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Vinca emm. Stultos ratio 

Hor- Semi: Ub:z V. 20. 














MIRROR 


PRESENTED TO 


HIS SICILIAN MAJESTY, 


©mt Britain, anB tt)r AIlirB S'inirmcjns 


REFLECTING 

POLITICAL FACTS of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE, 
CALCULATED TO UNDECEIVE THEM; 

Puerto ®tnyutrtisfjetr. 


BY 

Captain FRANCIS ROMEO, 

\X 

A native of Calabria, belonging to the noble order of the Sacred Roman 
Empire, Member of the Academies Buon Gusto, in Palermo, 
Florimontana, in Vibonia, Peloritana de* Periclitanti , in 
Messina; and who had been employed in Sicily, 
in the confidential department of the 
Britsh Army stationed there. 


1 ---- 

Audite in9ulse, et attendite populi de longe.—S ap. 



•) 4 » 

•o 1> 


LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR ROBERT STODART, 81, STRAND. 


mi. 



/ 














MOTIVES 




That induced the Author to publish this Work, 

SUBMITTED TO 

His Sicilian Majesty , to the King of Great Britain^ 
and to the Allied Sovereigns. 


Seneca held forth his Mirror to those addicted to 
anger, in the hope, that every one seeing the deformity 
of such a passion, might avoid and abhor it. A Mirror 
is here also presented to his Sicilian Majesty, formed 
on the same principles and for a like purpose. By it, 
that Sovereign may easily perceive how much he is 
disfigured and traduced by the iniquitous and per¬ 
fidious wretches, who are just now his Counsellors. 
It is not hereby meant however to indispose him against 
every one of his Counsellors in particular. There 
are certainly some of them distinguished for their per¬ 
sonal honour, merit and wisdom, whom this work 
truly respects ; to whom his people owe their grateful 
thanks ; and whose salutary influence it is the general 
wish to see exalted, while the destruction of that fatal 
ascendency, which those of an opposite description 
have gained, is as anxiously looked for. Against 
these last only are my observations directed. Only 

a 




VI 


villains need complain of me, not the real friends of 
their country, of reason, of honour, of His Sicilian 
Majesty, and the Allied Sovereigns! Let the chil¬ 
dren of darkness, the distinguished proselytes of im¬ 
posture, do us at least the favour to appear for once in 
the open day. Let them stand alone, or accompanied 
with those, their high and worthy supporters, who have 
hitherto protracted the miseries of the people, and the 
disgrace of their country. Alone, though the butt of 
a thousand misfortunes, and subjected to the greatest 
sufferings, I am still a stranger to fear. The wicked 
in power inspire me with no terror ; and instead of 
dreading, I pity them. Instead of shunning, I defy 
them to the combat, and here boldly challenge them to 
measure their strength with mine. 

If the endeavouring to undeceive my Sovereign ; 
if the seeking to withdraw him from the brink of the 
fatal precipice, on which he is placed; if the wishing 
to rescue my country from all malefic influence, and 
to spare Europe the horror of seeing rekindled the 
torch of Alecto , be deemed heresy ; let whoever thinks 
so, be assured that I should be truly proud to find re¬ 
newed against me the anathemas once fulminated 
against a Galileo and a Copernic ; or against those, 
who durst assert the existence of the Antipodes. But 
on the other hand I should think myself very happy, 
and much beholden to those wise friends of their 
country, who, animated with the real desire of benefit¬ 
ing their nation and government, would deign to cor¬ 
rect, improve and extend the observations and princi¬ 
ples here set forth ; which, owing to their complicated 


Vll 


state, and the shortness of the time employed in arrang¬ 
ing* them, leave certainly many blanks to be filled up, 
and many points to be rectified. 

The Mirror presented to his Sicilian Majesty, is at 
the same time equally recommended to the Allied 
Sovereigns. The conduct of the actual Ministry of 
the two Sicilies shews the effects of a violent reaction. 
The attempts of these assessors render vain the acts of 
the present Sovereigns of Europe; compromise their 
virtue, and make their sincerity be questioned : nor will 
these Princes have forgotten that all their glory was 
the result of that confidence in their philanthropy and 
good faith, with which they lately inspired their 
people. If the principle fails, can its consequences 
subsist? Will political errors, though their effects be 
slow, miss to produce their natural consequences ? 
Europe is become clear sighted. The people’s en¬ 
thusiasm is roused. Their courage is exalted. In 
more than one country the liberty of the press exists. 
And it were the merest illusion to befriend such ill- 
omened measures. Such a fatal illusion will be dissi¬ 
pated the moment that the standard of the perfidious 
is dashed to the ground. Humanity so degraded re¬ 
quires this to be done, as well as the glory and security 
of every Sovereign ; and it is from a wish to perform 
so sacred a duty to Reason, that I propose to unmask 
the darkest imposture ; and now venture to attack the 
fiend on his own very ground, supposed so inaccessible; 
and even within the magic circle of all his fatal en¬ 
chantments. 

Nisi utile est quod facimus 

Gloria stulta est.—P hjEDr. 

a 2 





























































. ■ 



































» 





. • { 






. 


















* 



• 



































PROSPECTUS. 


-- 


IN this Work are detailed the attempts of Bonaparte 
to make himself master of Sicily in 1810, and the 
reasons for which Murat did not second his design. 
The plan of destroying the English army garrisoned 
in Messina in 1811, and of assassinating their Com¬ 
manders, together with all the English resident in that 
place, conceived by the chief persons in office in the 
Sicilian Government, which at that time was in alliance 
with Great Britain. The manner in which this horrid 
and barbarous plan was to have been executed ; and 
how the Enemy was to have effected his landing in 
Sicily. The measures proposed by the Author of the 
Work, approved of by the British Commanders, 
Lieutenant Generals Maitland, Campbell and Don¬ 
kin, and most successfully executed by himself, to 
prevent the impending mischief. The admirable 
policy with which the said British Generals, and par¬ 
ticularly Lord William Bentinck effected the sepa- 



X 


ration of Murat from Bonaparte ; which so contri¬ 
buted to the great political changes, that have since 
taken place in Europe. The motives which at that 
time induced Murat to break with Bonaparte, and 
concur in saving from harm the British army. The 
reasons, which in 1814 induced the Sicilian Govern¬ 
ment to recal from their prisons and exile, and to exalt 
to the first posts of honour in the kingdom, those very 
Miscreants who, in the year 1811 had projected the 
massacre of the English in Messina; who, to excul¬ 
pate themselves, had declared her Majesty, the late 
Queen of Sicily, the author of their conspiracy; who 
had been respited from suffering death by the huma¬ 
nity of the British Minister : and whom his Sicilian 
Majesty had then stiled most wicked, perfidious and 
sacrilegious calumniators. The motives, which, after 
their reinstalment in office, induced these Revolutiona¬ 
ries to cause Murat to be shot, as a disturber of the 
public peace. The circumstances preceding, accom¬ 
panying and following his execution, which demon¬ 
strate the real cause of their having ordered him to be 
so quickly dispatched : and which has never hitherto 
been explained. The way, in which these Revo¬ 
lutionaries, now at the head of affairs in Naples, 
ordered Murat’s execution, in spite of his appeal, 
from the outset, to Great Britain and the Allied Sove¬ 
reigns ; and notwithstanding his being furnished with 
British passports ; while at the same period they in¬ 
sulted Lord William Bentinck ; persecuted all who 
had favoured the English ; depriving Sicily, on account 
of its loyalty to its Sovereign, and attachment to the 


XI 


English, of the rights and privileges it had enjoyed for 
so many centuries ; and, for the like reasons, thwarted 
and humbled, as much as in them lay, the Heir Appa¬ 
rent of the throne; and all in order to discredit the 
honour, the promises, and good faith of the Allied 
Sovereigns, and particularly of Great Britain ; exalt¬ 
ing thus the glory of Bonaparte ; and making his 
system and sway appear the most preferable. 

In this Work a view is also taken of all the depart¬ 
ments of Government; it touches on the moral, poli¬ 
tical, military, diplomatic and economical systems ; 
on those of public health, education, industry, en¬ 
couragement, correction, amusement, and the modi¬ 
fication of vice. From all which will appear the wants 
of the several departments, what has been done, neg¬ 
lected or thwarted in each branch ; and hence the me¬ 
thod and means of bettering the situation of those coun - 
tries, by diminishing their wants and miseries ; improv¬ 
ing their resources ; obviating, as much as possible, 
those evils that are most incident to society ; and thus 
establishing the happiness of the subject, and the pros¬ 
perity of the State. 

The motives will be further noticed and explained, 
which induced the actual Ministers of the Court of 
Naples, to annul the Constitution, granted to the Sici¬ 
lians by their Sovereign, and guaranteed to them, for 
fifteen years, by Great Britain ; to persecute all over 
the kingdom, Free Masonry, and the Carbonarian 
Societies ; and to persuade their King to change his 
title of Ferdinand the Fourth to that of Ferdinand 
the First. 


Xll 


• It will likewise be shewn how far Murat’s overthrow 
was owing: to his ill treatment of the Carbonarian 
Societies ; and Bonaparte’s rise and downfal, to 
the favours granted, or insults offered to Free 
Masonry. 

Finally, a parallel will be drawn between the con¬ 
duct of the late Spanish Government, and that of the 
present one of Naples; and from what has happened 
in Spain, will be shewn what must be expected soon 
to take place in Naples. 

JAM TUA RES AGITUR PARIES DUM PROXIMUS AUDET. 

Ovid. 






HIS SACRED AND ROYAL MAJESTY 

FERDINAND, 

(Late the Fourth, now the First,) 

KING OF THE TWO SICILIES, &c. &c. &o. 


Circumstances preceding , accompanying, and follow¬ 
ing Murat’s execution, explanatory of that event. 

Plan formed in 1811 of massacring the British army 
in Messina ; and how it was defeated. 

Sire, 

You are aware, and I need therefore only 
remind you, that the new marriage of Na¬ 
poleon with the Arch-Duchess of Austria, 
niece to your late royal consort, introduced 
a vertiginous spirit into your court, as well 
as into that of the late Murat ( 1 ). 

/ r“ 

This new alliance revived in the breasts 
of your counsellors the almost extinguished 
hopes of recovering the kingdom of Naples, 


B 


10 


while it excited in Murat the utmost appre¬ 
hensions of losing it. 

The preference given to this new, and 
powerfully influencing, as close connection, 
gave birth to events, which very much influ¬ 
enced the subsequent changes in the political 
system of Europe ( 2 ). 

Murat was too fond of his beautiful king¬ 
dom of Naples, not to wish to retain it; 
and between his anxious desire of preserving, 
and fear of losing it, he gave headlong into 
an endless train of chimerical projects, and 
false measures, which proved so very fatal 
to him in the end. As soon as, in conse¬ 
quence of the aforesaid marriage, a relation¬ 
ship had taken place between your Majesty 
and the late Ruler of France, Murat began 
to contemplate in Bonaparte the defender of 
your rights, no longer the promoter of his 
own views; in the French Empress a most 
formidable rival; and in the English, the 
fittest supporters possible of his designs and 
future operations ( 3 ). 


/ 


II 


So fantastical and foolish an idea, which 
the false politics of his predecessor Joseph 
had confirmed him in, made him take certain 
steps, which however did not escape the late 
Salicetfs notice, the political Argus of that 
time. Napoleon was secretly informed of 
all by that minister. Murat, upon this, 
was called to Paris. The manner in which 
he justified his conduct was not thought 
very satisfactory ; and Bonaparte was as 
little pleased with Murat, as this last was 
at finding himself subjected to so new and 
so strict a species of superintendence (4). 
A few months after this the prefect of general 
police at Naples, the Cavaliero Maghella, 
gave a diplomatic entertainment; at which 
Saliceti was present; who, after eating an 
ice-meat, was immediately taken ill of a 
violent cholic: the physicians pronounced 
his case hopeless, and three days after he 
was a corpse. His situation was bestowed 
upon Maghella, under whose ministry no 
further effective obstacles were put to the 
secret introduction of colonial produce from 
Sicily into Calabria ( 5 ). 

b 2 


12 


. Meanwhile the king of Rome was born, 
and Murat had to set out again for Paris; 
where, at the same time that he looked on 
the Empress with a jealous eye, Bonaparte 
on that account, no longer shewed him the 
usual marks of his former confidence; so 
that new motives were furnished, on both 
sides, for mutual diffidence and disgust (6). 
Murat plainly foresaw that he was going to 
be deprived of his kingdom ; when the ex¬ 
queen Caroline, his wife, interposed with 
her brother, and through her mediation a 
reconciliation took place ( 7 ). 

• k / \ 

At this very time the Empress, availing 
herself of her influence, on having brought 
forth an heir to the empire, deigned to in¬ 
terest herself with her husband in behalf of 
her aunt, your Majesty’s spouse; and Napo¬ 
leon, though he had formerly sworn never 
more to suffer the Bourbon dynasty to reign 
in Naples (s), assured her, upon this occasion, 

that if her aunt would but contrive to get 
lid of the English, and admit his army into 
Sicily, he would not only restore to her the 


13 


kingdom of Naples , but would make over to 
her besides the marquisat of Ancona ( 9 ). 

In -consequence of this assurance, frequent 
and mysterious messages passed to and from 
your Majesty's cabinet and that of Bo¬ 
naparte (lo). 

In the month of March, 1810, Bonaparte 
ordered the troops dispersed all over Naples 
to concentrate their forces in the farther Ca¬ 
labria, for the expedition about to be under¬ 
taken against Sicily (il). 

* 

Murat was charged with the operations, 
and General Gregner appointed to assist him, 
and at the same time watch over his con¬ 
duct ( 12 ). An army thus of twenty-eight 
thousand men remained for three whole 
months within view of the British forces, 
busied only in performing mere sham and 
farcical manoeuvres (13),. 

i , 

To give, however, some feasible colour to 
all this inactivity, Murat caused, at last, 

b 3 


14 


three thousand Neapolitan soldiers to dis¬ 
embark on the beach at San Stefano, four 

i 

miles from Messina; nine hundred of whom 
he sacrificed, and recalled back the rest 
whose retreat was not intercepted, though 
the whole of the streight they had to repass 
was kept at the time by the English fleet. 
Yet the vice admiral, who could have easily 
made them all prisoners, however much 
blamed at the time by those who were not in 
his secret, for allowing them to escape, was 
afterwards rewarded, instead of being pu¬ 
nished, for his conduct on the occasion (14). 

While this was executing on the part of 
Napoleon and Murat, and when Sicily was 
so immediately threatened, the British com¬ 
mander in chief, Sir John Stuart, applied 
again and again to your Majesty's court for a 
supply of troops, but never received any ; on 
the contrary, your forces were always kept 
purposely at a distance from the centre of 
military operations, and from the threatened 
point of danger and attack (15). 


15 


Murat having thus completed his well con* 
certed farce, gave up all further thoughts of 
renewing the enterprize that had been forced 
upon him ; and contented himself with issu¬ 
ing a proclamation, in which he declared 
that he had shewn the French with what 
ease they could make good their landing in 
Sicily; though, for the present, the con¬ 
quest of that island was deferred : that, how¬ 
ever the expedition had answered the end 
proposed, which was that of forcing the ene¬ 
my to a greater distance from the most es¬ 
sential posts, while he had occasion to em¬ 
ploy the army elsewhere ( 16 ). 

While Murat was doing nothing but issuing 
proclamations, Lieut. Gen. Stuart, who had 
marked with particular attention the conduct 
of your Majesty's advisers at the most critical 
moment, perceiving that under false pretences, 
they persecuted those of your Majesty's 
subjects who had favoured the English (l?) ; 
while, on the other hand, they shewed a 
marked partiality for those who had seconded 
the enemy's attempts ( 18 ); to spare himself 


I 


16 


the trouble of continuing with your Cabinet a 


perplexing and endless altercation on the 
subject, requested of his Government to be 


recalled ; and Lord William Bentinck was 
appointed to succeed him (19). 

Murat then, who had narrowly observed 
the conduct of the first in power at your 
Majesty's court, dreading the consequences 
of their underhand machinations, and at the 
same time resolved to keep fast hold of the 
kingdom of Naples, endeavoured secretly to 
connect himself with the English ( 20 ). 

Lord Bentinck, who clearly foresaw the 
advantages resulting from such a proposal, 
directed his whole policy to encrease Murat's 
suspicions and apprehensions ; in which hav¬ 
ing succeeded to his utmost wish, he suddenly 
returned back to London, leaving to Lieut. 
Gen. Sir Frederick Maitland the command of 
the army during his absence ( 21 ). 



In this interval, towards the end of the 
year 1811, when it had become evident that 


17 


\ 


the enemy's landing, so anxiously anticipated, 
and for which such precautions had been taken 
to render it successful, was not forthcoming ; 
your Majesty's advisers, and their worthy 
colleagues, those very men who now so grace 
your throne with their presence, wishing to 
remove at once all the obstacles, which they 
fancied prevented Murat from passing over 
into Sicily ; and quite impatient to see the 
kingdom of Naples restored, as promised, 
to your Majesty; at a perfect loss, how¬ 
ever, how to get the English out of your 
dominions ; conceived and projected the hor¬ 
rible plan of massacring the whole of them, 
after assassinating their principal leaders; and 
then of admitting into the island the French 
troops in their stead (22). 

The execution of this barbarous project 
was confided to the most distinguished per¬ 
sonages of your Court, who accepted the 
commission with transports of joy ; all ex¬ 
ulting in the idea that the moment was at 
hand of serving up the feast to the lobsters, 


18 


and celebrating once more the Sicilian 
vespers (23). 

«r J * - . 

v • 

Their so wished-for celebration met how¬ 
ever with some difficulty in the execution. 
Lieut. Generals Maitland, Campbell, and 
Donkin, had heard of what was going on, 
and deigning to consider my co-operation as 
fit on the occasion, they employed me in the 
confidential department of the British army. 
These, Sire, alone sufficed to unravel and 
render vain the dark and complicated in¬ 
trigues of your ministers, perhaps in other 
respects distinguished for their sagacity, but 
who, on this occasion, betrayed in their mea¬ 
sures the greatest stupidity as well as per- 
fidy ( 24 ). 

The plans by me suggested on such an 
emergency, which, under the direction of 
the abovementioned generals, I myself carried 
into effect, succeeded in making me com¬ 
pletely master of the correspondence carried 
on between Napoleon himself and his most 


I 


19 


distinguished confidents in Sicily (25); so far 
as to enable me, by giving a new turn to its 
drift, to prevent its effects ; and finally to 
frustrate the projects of the former, and the 
views and expectations of the latter. 

In virtue of the first object attained by the 
above suggested plans, having ascertained 
that the conspirators'had asked, through the 
French general Manhes in Calabria ( 26 ), and 
expected from Napoleon a general officer to 
be sent to them, to determine finally with 
them upon the long premeditated scheme of 
destroying the British army ; I found means 
to substitute, in the stead of the officer 
looked for, and get introduced into their 
councils, a British officer, Mr. Rochefueill, 
lieutenant in the Anglo-Maltese regiment, 
and to procure, through his medium, not 
only the confirmation of all I had discovered 
by other methods used for that purpose, but 
also an exact list of the chief conspirators ( 27 ), 
dispersed over Sicily; who were all at the 
time appointed for their operations to ren - 
devouse at Messina, in order to accomplish 


20 


at once the assassination, as well of the 
English residents in that place, as of the 
British army that protected them. 

It appears, and indeed is evident, that 
Murat imprudently apprized by your Ma¬ 
jesty's advisers of their design (28), but fol¬ 
lowing the advice of his prudent minister, 
the prince of C—C, regulated his conduct 
in such a way, as not only to put it in Gene¬ 
ral Maitland’s power to come at the know¬ 
ledge of what was passing (29), but even 
contrived, with the greatest ingenuity, to 
make the secret correspondence carried on 

X 

between Bonaparte and the most distinguished 
members of your Majesty's government, par¬ 
ticularly the Cavaliere C—st—r, head of the 
police at Palermo ( 30 ), and the head of the 
police at Messina, C—(3i), be intercepted 
by Lord William Bentinck. 

Murat was convinced that on these ac¬ 
counts the English would put an end for ever 
to the Bourbon dynasty in Sicily, and that 
his kingdom would be thus secured to him. 


Lieut. Gen. Maitland, however, wished to 
prove, by substantial facts, the generosity 
and good faith of Great Britain towards your 
Majesty ; and at the same time furnishing a 
striking instance of that prudence which so 
characterizes her representatives, continued 
to encourage Murat's fond illusion, in order 
thus to widen the breach between him and 
Napoleon; while, on the other hand, he 
strove to remove from before your eyes the 
fatal veil that conceiled from your sight the 
precipice to which your were driving on head¬ 
long, in order to deter you from the further 
pursuit of an object which at first sight ap¬ 
peared so fallacious (32). 

For this twofold purpose, he caused the 
arrest of the Messina conspirators; who, on 
their being tried by a court-martial, com¬ 
posed partly of Sicilian and partly of British 
officers, and fully convicted of the crimes laid 
to their charge; durst, in order to screen 
themselves from the awarded punishment, de¬ 
fame your royal consort, by declaring her 
to be the head of their conspiracy (33). 


2 C 2 


On learning this, the British plenipoten¬ 
tiary and commander in chief, Lord William 
Bentinck, instead of aiming, in consequence 
of so atrocious and formal an accusation, at 
depriving you of your crown (34), made it his 
sole endeavour to convince you of the per¬ 
fidiousness of your counsellors ; the infamy of 
your favourites ; the fallacy of the measures 
to which you had submitted ; the most pro¬ 
per expedients to make your false friend and 
worst of enemies give into the very snare 
which he had laid for you ; and the means, 
which, at so favourable a juncture, he could 
afford you of recovering the kingdom you had 
lost(35). 

Sire, You prized at that epoch, as they de¬ 
served, the wise and salutary counsels offered 
you. You approved of the plan then sub- 
mitted to you : you ordered the court-martial 
at Messina to inflict exemplary punishment 
on those who had conspired against the Eng¬ 
lish army, declaring, at that time, those con¬ 
victed the enemies of your throne , and to 
the country; impious wretches , and sacri - 


23 


legious calumniators: and thinking your late 
consort stood in the way of realizing the newly 
combined measures, you persuaded her to 
quit the island. Some of your advisers were 
banished the kingdom ; others dismissed from 
employment; and all those ministers removed 
from your court, who so trifled with the vi¬ 
tal interests of your subjects. You then 
made over the government of your kingdom 
to your eldest son, praising the exalted qua¬ 
lities that adorn him . You yourself granted 
Sicily a liberal constitution, calling it a truly 
loyal and meritorious nation : and you pro¬ 
fessed yourself the sincere friend and con¬ 
stant ally of Great Britain (36). 

Thus powerfully seconded by your Majesty, 
that noble Lord settled the affairs of your 
kingdom in such a way as gained him the ut¬ 
most affections of the Sicilians, whose minds he 
totally alienated from the common enemy (37), 
^nd reconciled to your government (38). 
He thus furnished fresh motives of diffidence 
and disgust between your Majesty's rival, 
and false friend (39) ; and so succeeded in 


24 


dividing them from each other in their re¬ 
spective views and interests, as to effect that 
at Naples and Paris against Bonaparte and 
Murat, which these two had endeavoured to 
accomplish at Palermo and Messina, to your 
ruin and the disadvantage of Great Britain (40). 

Sire, In the year 1815, scarce were you 
replaced on the throne of Naples, when, as 
soon as the English had quitted Sicily ; your 
former counsellors, and actual ministers, 
those very ministers and counsellors whose 

iniquity and perfidy, in the year 1811, you 

» 

had so clearly detected, and so emphatically 
acknowledged ; and even all their associates 
and accomplices, who to avoid suffering the 
punishment they deserved, had dared so to 
asperse your royal consort, and to force even 
your Majesty to act a part the most humi¬ 
liating and degrading possible; those, either 
such madmen, or such short-sighted conspi¬ 
rators, whose horrid project your Majesty 
swore to have had no knowledge of, and whom 
you yourself ordered to be punished in an 
exemplary manner, though they were spared 


25 


from shedding their blood on a scaffold by 
the humanity alone of the British Minister; 
were immediately, by a truly new kind of 
political metamorphosis, recalled from their 
chains, dungeons, and exile, to fill anew 
the first situations in the kingdom ( 41 ) ; where 
those very honours were restored to them, 
which they had forfeited by their own per¬ 
fidy, brought forth to light chiefly by 
Murat, and by him disclosed to the British 
commanders. 

Such worthy subjects, on regaining the 
supreme authority in your dominions, soon 
distinguished themselves by the facts and 
measures, which are here detailed. 

On getting Murat into their power, they 
treated him as any other private individual, 
and caused him to be shot, as if guilty of 
exciting revolt. 

They at the same time, granted an am¬ 
nesty to the ringleader of the banditti. 
They bestowed the chief honours of the 

•r 

c 


26 


state on the most notorious revolutionists; 
and those most evidently convicted, confessed 
and condemned. They, on the other hand, 
oppressed and persecuted all those, who had 
shewn themselves friendly to the British ar¬ 
my in Sicily ; ordering some to be arrested, 
banishing others, without allowing them the 
least opportunity to vindicate their innocence; 
treating others as if unworthy to serve among 
your troops ; or admitting them into the ser¬ 
vice on a footing inferior to that which they 
had held in the English army. These very 
same advisers of your Majesty refused Lord 
William Bentinck the permission to land at 
Naples. Through them has Sicily been 
stripped of the rightful privileges it had en¬ 
joyed for ages; and deprived of the constitu¬ 
tion which yourself had granted ; and Great 
Britain had guaranteed to it. They humbled, 
as much as in them lay, all those princes in 
Palermo, who had shewn their attachment to 
the constitutional system. Even your heir 
apparent to the throne, Francis Bourbon, 
was not less exposed than others to the 
effects of their malevolence; having been 


27 


for the same cause placed on the back 
ground ( 42 ). 

Sire! Can the reason of all these their 
misdeeds be still a mystery to you ? Must it 
ever remain, like the perpetual vow, to be 
paid to the silent deity of Hypocrates ! deign 
only to hear it. The observations which are 
here submitted to you, may perhaps afford a 
key to the intentions of your Ministers ; and 
lay open to your sight all their secrets, their 
concealed wishes, and their hidden projects. 
You will thus be enabled to recognize the 
true principle and main spring of their actions 
under the following heads, which I propose 
touching upon ; Their blind spirit of revenge ; 
Their malicious disposition ; and Their love of 
turbulence and disorder , which has all along 
directed them; and you will clearly perceive, 
by this investigation, that your present ad¬ 
visers have induced your Majesty to sanction 
their above-mentioned iniquitous measures, 
because they themselves are instigated by 
the base motives alluded to ; because they 
wish their own infamy to be all laid to your 

c 2 


28 


account; because they wish you to quarrel 
with your friends; to forfeit the esteem of 
the other crowned heads ; to shew yourself 
ungrateful to your saviours and best pro¬ 
tectors ; and to make you appear worthy of 
the insulting titles, which the bitterest ene¬ 
mies of your Majesty's person have^ every 
where industriously spread to your dis¬ 
honour (43). 

Do not disdain, Sire, to retrace with me 
for a few minutes, the administration of your 
kingdom. Consider only for a moment the 
conduct of your present Ministry with regard 
to the moral establishments, the economy of 
the state, the military departments, and the 
various civil and political dependencies. 
From the sight of what they have done, 
and undone ; as well as what they have neg¬ 
lected, and ought to have done; you will be 
able to judge of the merit possessed by your 
chief advisers ; and you will distinguish those 
who seek to betray, and those who study 
only to serve you (44). 


29 


Such a retrospect may enable your Ma¬ 
jesty to hit upon that system of administra¬ 
tion, which human nature, the experience of 
ages, the analogy of the times, the bonds of 
society, local circumstances, and the actual 
civilization of the kingdom, will convince you 
to be the best adapted to the wants and wel¬ 
fare of your subjects. 

Sire, The rival of your throne was put to 
death; but did they who ordered his execu¬ 
tion do so to render your authority more 
stable and permanent; or not to glut their 
personal revenge ? To better their own cir¬ 
cumstances, or those of the state? Might not 
the death of Murat have proved more fatal, 
than his life could have been dangerous to 
your Majesty ! Their gift, presented to you, 
of their victim’s head, might it not have 
turned out as pregnant to you of mischief as 
Pandora’s did to Prometheus ? 

Should you wish, Sire, to ascertain the 
true state of things, you will find it, on ex¬ 
amining attentively the whole of their pro- 

c 3 


30 


ceedings. It will appear from the conduct of 
your Ministers in putting Murat to death ; 
in oppressing and maltreating to such a de¬ 
gree all those, who, in the year 1811, had 
saved the British army from the fatal danger 
that threatened it; in raising to the first 
posts of the state those revolutionists of Mes¬ 
sina and Palermo, who projected the horrid 
massacre; and in persecuting so relentlessly 
those others, who, in the year 1810, with a 
view to promote the objects proposed by 
yourself, or suggested to you by the British 
commanders, so readily concurred with the 
English troops in opposing the efforts made 
by Murat, in person, to effect the threatened 
landing of his army in Sicily. 

Murat set out from Corsica, furnished with 
British passports, in order to join his family 
at Trieste. On his passage, opposite to the 
heights of Calabria, his flotilla was dispersed 
by a sudden tempest. Next morning at day 
break, he found himself in sight of the gulf 
of Saint Euphemia. He stepped ashore at 
Pizzo. He walked up from the beach to the 


31 


town, where happening to meet Capt. Trenta 
Capilli, he asked him if he would accompany 
him. The Captain answered that the only 
king he obeyed was Ferdinand Bourbon. In¬ 
dignant at this reply, General Franc6schetti 
snatched a pistol, with the intent to blow out 
the Captain's brains : Murat interposing, pre¬ 
vented him from doing so, and thus saved 
the Captain's life. After remaining but a 
moment in the square, not knowing, in such 
a place to whom to address himself, or whom 
to ask for; and observing besides that the 
vessel in which he had sailed, as well as all 
the others that accompanied her, had re¬ 
moved to a considerable distance from the 
shore (45), Murat proposed ascending the 
heights of Pizzo, perhaps with the intention 
of proceeding to Monteleone. While on his 
way, a few peasants, headed by the same 
Capt. Trenta Capilli, attacked him. His at¬ 
tendants were about to fire upon the assail¬ 
ants (46), but Murat would not suffer it. This 
but encreased the boldness of his enemies. 
His party at length took to their heels; and 
he remained alone, without offering the 


32 


smallest resistance; wishing only to shun 
their attack, he returned to the beach, and 
strove to float a boat, in order to join with 
it, if possible, his own vessels. During his 
attempts, the country people came up with 
him ; and in their fury conceived against him, 
treated him in the most barbarous manner, 
and offering him the most degrading insults, 
they dragged him to the prison in their for¬ 
tress (4?); where his clothes, that had been 
torn off his back, were replaced by others 
sent him by the Prince Dell’ Infantados; and 
where he was waited upon only by the English 
Vice-Consul, whom Murat had appealed to 
in order to beg he would report his case ex¬ 
actly to the British government; under the 
sure conviction that justice would be done 
him (48). The Vice-Consul accordingly, 
without losing a moment, sent off expresses 
to Sicily, Malta and Naples, informing the 
corresponding British authorities in these 
places of all that had happened (49). Lieut. 
Colonel Robertson hastened from Messina; 
and in the name of England, under the pro¬ 
tection of whose passport, Murat was tra- 


33 


veiling, reclaimed him of Lieutenant General 
Nuntiante, who ruled the Calabrias with his 
sovereign alter ego; and who not only re¬ 
fused to give Murat up to him, but even de¬ 
rided Lieutenant Colonel Robertson's request. 
—Mu rat, on being asked in what manner he 
wished to be tried, answered that the only 
competent and unsuspected tribunal for him 
to be tried in, was that of the allied sove¬ 
reigns ; that as they had acknowledged him 
for a sovereign, to them he appealed : as it 
would be deemed an insult to every crowned 
head, were he to be judged by those subjects, 
who owed him the very commissions they 
held ; and that he certainly would disdain to 
answer any interrogatories put to him, if it 
was intended to subject him to such atrial(50). 
The supreme council of war, presided by 
your advisers, thought proper, neverthe¬ 
less, not to recognize in Murat that charac¬ 
ter, which the sovereigns of Europe held in 
his opinion. They refused trusting his case to 
the decision of other sovereigns; and, treating 
him but as a private individual, they left him 
to be judged by an heterogeneous kind of 


34 


commission, composed for the most part of 
those very subjects, whom Murat himself 
had raised to the bench of justice, and the 
politico-military presidency in Calabria (5i). 
By such a treatment, and by proceeding 
against him as if guilty of exciting revolt, 
they condemned him upon one of his own 
laws, enacted against revolutionaries; not by 
the one, its equivalent, enacted by your 
Majesty against such (52). 

The said commission having received, and 
exactly acted upon the peremptory orders 
sent them by the supreme council; con¬ 
demned Murat, as a revolutionary, to be 
shot: when your Majesty, aware of this, 
and wishing to prevent the sad fate of that 
unfortunate individual, though your rival, 
had the goodness to dispatch the most posi¬ 
tive orders to spare his life (53). These or¬ 
ders, however, arrived too late. Murat was 
already no more; but the fact proves the 
generous compassion of your royal heart (54) ; 
and all the precautions observed ; the preced¬ 
ing, concomitant, and subsequent circum- 


35 


stances of his death ; cannot but manifest to 
you the real motives, and effective principle, 
that instigated your advisers to treat Murat 
in the manner they did. 

On consulting merely common sense, and 

examining undeniable facts, your Majesty 

will at once perceive whether Murat was 

really condemned for the intention it was 
•/ 

ailedged he had, of exciting in 1815, a re¬ 
volt in the Calabrias; and thus opposing 
your rightful claims ; or not rather for his 
having, in the year 1811, thrown obstacles 
in the way of your present advisers, who 
were then wishing to upset every thing 
in Sicily ; and his not having exactly com¬ 
plied with the orders he received from Bona¬ 
parte in 1810, of landing with his forces in 
that island, in order to second their perfi¬ 
dious efforts and designs; and, in fine, for 
his having made, what they considered to be 
so false a step, and so deserving of punish¬ 
ment, that of his having separated himself 
from Napoleon, to combine measures, and 
act in concert with the Allied Powers. 


56 


Sire, as long as Murat continued to act under 
the instructions of the French Ex-Emperor, in 
1810and 1811, your present Ministers favour¬ 
ed his agents, promoted their designs, assisted 
them in their undertakings, and persecuted 
their adversaries^). These counsellors of your 
Majesty have since held forth Murat to pub¬ 
lic detestation, from no other motive, but 
because he proved unfaithful to Napoleon, 
by attaching himself to the Allied Sovereigns; 
and thus defeated the ruffian purposes of the 
favourites of your court: and these coun¬ 
sellors of your Majesty, at the very time that 
they caused Murat to be shot, as a revolu¬ 
tionary ; exalted to the first dignities of the 
state, and entrusted with the most illustrious 
situations of the kingdom, the revolutiona¬ 
ries of Messina and Palermo; who had con¬ 
curred with him, as acting under the direc¬ 
tions of Napoleon ; persecuting, at the same 
time all those, who on that occasion opposed 
him ; and humbling all Sicily to such a de¬ 
gree, that had invariably opposed the ene¬ 
my's designs and those of his agents and 
emissaries; striving all the while to set you 


37 


at variance with your heir apparent, that wor¬ 
thy Prince, who, studious of the real interests 
of your throne, of the country, and of your 
true friends, had shewn himself, on the above- 
mentioned emergency, the awful scourge 
of the perfidious, the steady prop of your 
kingdom, and the undaunted asserter of your 
rights. 

Sire, Your advisers persuaded you to 
treat Murat as a private individual; and thus 
not to respect in him that inviolable charac¬ 
ter, which the allied princes had recognized 
and established. And why this? Was it 
with a view to convince all Europe that the 
counsels of the sapient worthies, who are just 
now your advisers, had acquired over your 
mind the same supreme and irresistible in¬ 
fluence, which Bonaparte had vainly at¬ 
tempted to gain over that of every other 
sovereign. Or did they seek thus only to ful¬ 
fil their long cherished wish (56) of inducing 
the other princes to avenge the insult, so 
daringly put upon them; and so to ruin for 


/ 


38 


s 


ever your rightful cause, and mar your most 
sacred interests. 

These, your Majesty's counsellors, in 
treating Murat as a private individual, sub¬ 
jected him to a law, which he himself had 
enacted against perturbators; and not to the 
equivalent one, enacted by your Majesty 
against persons of that description. Who 
could have supposed so glaring a contradic¬ 
tion possible? who shall attempt to explain a 
conduct so very unaccountable ? Your coun¬ 
sellors declare Murat to be nothing more than 
a private individual; and yet with the same 
breath they acknowledge him for a legislator ; 
and without the smallest necessity, put his 
laws, as if still binding, in force. His rights 
therefore, which they deny in word, they 
admit in deed. What can all this mean ? 
Sire, the talents of your counsellors are of so 
transcendent and superior a cast, as to render 
it impossible for any mortal, with his limited 
intellect, to scan their ultra-sublime measures; 
which therefore we are permitted only to re¬ 
view in the Acataliptia of Colfonius ; otherwise 


39 


human reason may still presume to inves¬ 
tigate and discuss the principle upon which 
they have acted, apparently in so very ab¬ 
surd and inconsistent a manner : and in this 
supposition I will venture to affirm, without 
any ceremony, that the measure alluded to 
does not indicate, in the Areopagites of your 
court, that degree of wisdom, for which 
they take such credit to themselves: but ra¬ 
ther, as it would seem, that their so notable 
inconsistency originated in their having con¬ 
sidered, in the person of Murat, two distinct 
beings, diametrically opposite to each other; 
the one the favourite of Bonaparte, the other 
the friend of the Allied Sovereigns. In the 
former they respected, and would still re- 
pec t, as v inherent, the legislative power. 
The latter, however, had not forfeited, nor 
could ever forfeit, his right to that character 
which the Allied Powers had acknowledged 
to reside in him. Had Murat remained still 
faithful to Napoleon, your counsellors would 
doubtless have deemed it their honourable 
duty to reverence him as a legislator and a 
monarch. They only dropped their esteem 


40 


for your rival, from the moment that having 
separated his interests from those of Bona¬ 
parte, he made common cause with the 
Allies ; when he happened to be under the 
protection of British passports; and after 
his having rendered the greatest services to 
the English army. What is the inference 
then, Sire, to be deduced from such proceed¬ 
ings? Surely that these your Ministers, ei¬ 
ther studied, in the treatment they shewed 
to Murat, your interests, in common with 
those of the Allied Princes; or those of the 
common enemy. 

Light dispels darkness, and doubt is re¬ 
moved by evidence. Your Ministers refused 
to give up Murat to the British representa¬ 
tive, on the decision of the Allied Powers 1 
Is not this, Sire, giving room either to sup¬ 
pose yourself and the Allied Princes now 
reigning in Europe, unjust, treacherous and 
unworthy of esteem ; or that your assessors, 
in spite of all their eagerness to get rid of 
Murat, being convinced that they could not 
have realized their murderous intent in any 


41 


regular and unsuspected way ; determined, 
notwithstanding, to glut their own revenge, 
not caring what insult was thereby offered 
to the other Sovereigns, or how much they 
risked your Majesty's personal welfare, and 
compromised the interests of your throne, as 
well as those of the nation. Should their be¬ 
haviour on this occasion not fully evince this 

%s 

to have been the case ; reason surely demon¬ 
strates that your actual counsellors had every 
thing to fear from the discoveries Murat might 
make as to their conduct ; and that they had 
the strongest motives for shutting his mouth, 
and hindering him for ever from disclosing 
the secret causes of their aversion to him ; 
which, had they been published, would in¬ 
fallibly have ruined them(6l). They well knew 
what Murat could do against them in this 
respect ; nor were they at the same time ig¬ 
norant of the numberless data to the same 
effect, which those, who had befriended the 
English, were in possession of. Your Coun¬ 
sellors therefore, so skilled in the art of 
subterfuge, so distinguished for their dark 
and villainous ploddings, ordered Murat to be 

D 


42 


judged, without hearing his defence; and 
to be shot without allowing him an appeal 
from the sentence : and following up the 
same plan, these, entrusted with the interests 
of your crown, took care to rid themselves 
of all those who had seconded the English; 
by degrading, imprisoning, or banishing 
them from your kingdom and their country. 
The identity of the case is proved, Sire, 
by the identity of the effects; and whatever 
is equivocal or obscure, is easily explained 
by that which is evidently manifest (62). 

Murat was declared guilty; but by 
judges, who had only to act up to the letter • 
on the orders transmitted to them by your 
counsellors; guilty, though denied the op¬ 
portunity of making any defence; though 
not allowed to appeal to more competent and 
less suspected judges; though forced to hear 
only those who pleaded against him, and 
who were admitted at once, as the aggressors , 
as his accusers , and as evidence ; who soon 
after saw themselves, for so meritorious an 
exploit, distinguished and rewarded; while 


43 


no compensation, no distinctive honour was 
ever bestowed on those, who on more trying 
and critical occasions had so boldly opposed 
every attempt made by this same Murat 
against your dominions, at the time that he 
saw himself supported by means the most 
effective, and royal resources of the most im¬ 
posing kind ( 63 ). Sire, did they, who re¬ 
commended to your Majesty such an unheard 
of proceeding, intend thus to render Murat's 
guilt manifest; or not rather merely to 
satisfy their own predominant wish, that of 
sacrificing him to their relentless and im¬ 
placable vengeance. 

Murat was declared a disturber of the 
public peace. But how, or for what reason ? 
Because after a severe tempest, in the hopes 
of finding some relief, he had stepped ashore 
in a country, where he had been declared and 
acknowledged as Sovereign, but from which 
he had been forced by military events; 
though he himself had never abdicated his 
right to the crown? or perhaps,because on 
landing he suffered not the laws of the coun- 

d C Z 


44 


try to be violated, when he prevented the 
general that followed him from killing one 
of your officers; who in return for such kind- 
ness, accomplished his destruction : or was it 
because, when he was first assailed, he did 
not allow his followers to repel force with 
force, in order to disperse the few aggressors, 
who had assembled against him ? 

Your Ministers treated Murat as a revolu¬ 
tionist ; but who were his supporters, or 
what were his means? who appeared with 
him on his landing ? whom had he chosen for 
his attendants, on his stepping ashore at 
Pizzo? to whom did he then direct himself, 
and which of your subjects offered to follow 
him ? with whom had he corresponded, or 
who were to be his abettors within the king¬ 
dom ? Sire, your Ministers never made it 
appear that he had so much as one accom¬ 
plice, or one single individual in the most 
distant relationship with him; and yet were 
seen in your dominions arrests and imprison¬ 
ments, the most arbitrary and mysterious; 
while only the rumour was spread that these 


45 


were occasioned by the attachment of so 
many to the Masonic and Carbonarian socie¬ 
ties^). How wide the difference between the 
conduct observed by Sahceti in proving the 
existence of a conspiracy ; and that observed 
by Count Palmeri and your actual advisers, 
at Naples 1808, together with the proceed¬ 
ings of your Ministry, in their quest of evi¬ 
dence against Murat ( 65 ). 

They gave out that he had landed at Pizzo r 
with the design of exciting an insurrection, 
and thus possessing himself of the country, 
from which he was obliged to fly. At Pizzo! 
the place of all others in the kingdom ever 
known to be the most inimical to him(66) ! At 
Pizzo ! which he was anxious to quit, on 
observing that his transport had stood out to 
Sea! At Pizzo ! where he was the person 
attacked ; and where he only strove to pre¬ 
vent all disorder, and avoid coming to blows 
on either side : where on his landing he never 
so much as hinted his intention of marching 
towards the fort of that place; which, as 
destitute both of troops and resources, would 

d 3 


46 


have been an object of easy conquest to him, 
and a sure means of realizing the projects, on 
the pretence of which he was put to death. 
He think of reconquering the kingdom, which 
a little before, while at the head ot an army 
of 100,000 men, he had found it impos¬ 
sible to retain! though it never appeared that 
he had taken one single step to accomplish 
what was laid to his charge; and when he had 
just learned the resolutions agreed upon by 
the sovereign powers of Europe, and the great 
resources which your Majesty had at your 
command ( 67 )! 

Is it thus, Sire, that your Ministers proved 
the anarchical disposition of your competitor; 
or rather, that they demonstrated in the 
clearest manner possible, by the treatment 
they shewed him, and the doom they sub¬ 
jected him to, that they sought but to re¬ 
venge themselves upon him for the obstacles 
he had formerly put to their anarchical and 
revolutionary designs ; which, in the year 
1810 and 1811, your present advisers had 
formed, and were endeavouring to promote ? 


47 


These also caused Murat to be tried by a 
court-martial, composed of persons whom 
Murat bad formerly employed ; and who, 
on acknowledging him for their Sovereign, 
had sworn to him obedience, respect and fi¬ 
delity. These your Ministers, wishing him 
to be considered but as a private individual, 
and to be judged, as a promoter of sedition, 
might easily have subjected him to a council 
of war, and caused to preside at such a tri¬ 
bunal onlv the Sicilian officers, who had never 

%s 

acknowledged Murat for their King, nor ever 
sworn allegiance to that monarch. 

What motive then could have prevented 
your Ministers from doing so? Did they in¬ 
tend thus perhaps to oblige his judges so 
chosen, to suppose, or to render themselves, 
perjured wretches; or, at all events, to form 
of their oaths taken, the same opinion which 
Lysander King of Lacedemon attached to 
such ; who considered them merely as a shift 
made use of, in order to impose upon Princes ; 
and like so many bugbears, to frighten chil¬ 
dren with? Was it the intention of your worthy 
assessors thus to deprave the moral sense of 


48 


your people ? Did they contrive by such a 
precedent to sanction the right of the sub¬ 
jects to pass judgment on their own Sove¬ 
reign? Was it their object in acting so, to 
sanction the conduct of the French regicides; 
and to shew themselves ready on a like fatal 
occasion to approve of your Majesty^s being 
put to death (68)? 

Sire, fortune, in putting your rival into 
your power, had given you the precious op¬ 
portunity of distinguishing yourself as just, 
generous and truly great; of proving yourself 
worthy of the esteem of those Sovereigns, 
who had afforded you their protection ; and 
of thus securing for ever your rights to the 
throne. They who counsel you, instead of 
persuading you to make the most of such 
uncommon advantages, only study to veil 
from your sight all the benefits that are thence 
to be derived ( 69 ), and seek but to expose 
you to the inevitable cousequences of all 
those evils, which such an event is capable of 
occasioning ( 70 ). Nor have they any other 
aim, but that of affording your enemies arms, 
and the certain means of supplanting your au- 


49 


thority, and ruining the chief resources of 
your power ( 71 ). Hence, from what has been 
stated, and from the very conduct of your 
advisers, in their treatment of Murat, it clearly 
follows, that they treated that unfortunate 
individual so atrociously, not from any wish 
they had of promoting your welfare and the 
interests of the country ; but from that of 
accomplishing their own dark and perfidious 
designs ( 72 ). 

Deign, Sire, to consider that the conduct 
of your present Ministers tends only to cover 
Murat's guilt, if he was really guilty : to de¬ 
fend him ; and to make him pass for inno¬ 
cent ( 73 ). 

From this you may deduce the real motives 
they had for putting him to death ; because 
he had proved unfaithful to Bonaparte, and 
had thus frustrated their projects ; not for 
having attempted mails artibus to violate jour 
rights and those of society (74). 

It will appear to you from a corollary so 
well established, that their real view in sub- 


/ 


50 


jecting your rival to so cruel a fate, was that 
of making you offer an insult to his protec¬ 
tors ; that of making you avenge the cause 
of Napoleon, whom he had deserted ; and that 
of injuring in the eyes of the world, the cause 
of the Allied Sovereigns, and above all your 
own (75). 

Sire, The Allied Sovereigns were those who 
placed you on your throne; and they alone 
maintain you on it. Had the fate of Murat 
been left to their decision, your actual ad¬ 
visers would have evidently shewn that they 
had good grounds for proving his guilt; that 
they had nothing to fear from any exposures 
he could make; and that it was far from 
their wish to discredit the passports granted 
him: to oppose the intentions, or frustrate the 
views of the Sovereigns of Europe. By so 
doing, your advisers would have been no 
longer under the necessity of sanctioning re¬ 
gicides ; of exalting to such an immoderate 
pitch the power of the subjects ; of doing 
away with the sacred obligation of an oath, 
and thus depraving the moral sense of the 


51 


public; of degrading in fine, your own in¬ 
genuous and elevated character; whilst your 
Majesty, by shewing yourself so generous 
towards an enemy, become the sport of fortune 
and already cast down, would have well de¬ 
served that high eulogium, which con¬ 
stituted the pride of the ancient masters of 
the universe: 

Par cere Subjectis, et debellare superbos. 


In manifesting by such a conduct the ut¬ 
most confidence in those friends, who had 
enabled you to reascend your throne, you 
obliged them so to dispose of your rival, as to 
leave you nothing to fear, either from him¬ 
self or his posterity, that could ever after 
disturb your reign. Under such favourable 
auspices, what advantages did your stupid 
as well as perfidious advisers make you de¬ 
rive from the death of your rival ?—Should 
you wish to know ? why the following : 

“ The loss of the confidence and esteem of 
64 foreign powers : the authorization of regi- 


52 


44 cides : the inordinate increase of popular 
44 authority, in pronouncing on the actions of 
44 Sovereigns; and the depravation of the moral 
44 sense : the most intense hatred of the friends 
44 of Murat, and the compassion excited for him 
44 in the breasts of his very enemies : the pro- 
46 tection of princes afforded his family, on ac- 
44 count of the insult thus put upon themselves; 
44 and the stronger inducement for his children 
64 to avenge his death; together with the readier 
44 means and opportunity furnished them of 
44 doing so/’ 

Behold, Sire, the real consequence of that 

more than pharisaical zeal, with which your 

present advisers were animated, when they 

decreed the death of Murat. Behold the 

facts, which, on this occasion so clearlv un- 

*/ 

fold their designs. This is what above all I 
beseech your Majesty to keep in view, and 
recal most frequently to mind. 

Murat had frustrated the project of your 
actual advisers ; and exposed them to the 
wretched consequence of their own perverse 


53 


machinations. He had combined measures 
with Lord William Bentinck, and opposed 
the designs of Napoleon. He was under the 
protection of British passports : in prison he 
addressed himself to the English Vice-Consul; 
asked through him the protection of Great 
Britain ; and in the name of Great Britain he 
was reclaimed. Murat insisted on being 
tried as a Sovereign, acknowledged for such 
by the Allied Powers; to whose decision he 
referred his case ; and declared that none of 
those had any right to judge of his actions, 
who had been his subjects; whom he himself 
had employed; and who had sworn to him 
obedience, respect and fidelity. Your Minis¬ 
ters refused to give him up to the represen¬ 
tative of Great Britain ;—they made no ac¬ 
count of the protection afforded him by the 
British passports ; they refused referring his 
case to the decision of the Allied Sovereigns; 
they respected not in him the distinguished 
character, which those Princes had approved 
of and sanctioned ; but treated him as a 
private individual: and while they might 
have made him be more properly judged by 


54 


Sicilian officers, who had never acknowledged 
him for their king ; they subjected him to the 
judgment of those, who had professed them¬ 
selves his subjects, and sworn allegiance to 
him : thus arrogating to themselves a more 
than universal supremacy, in virtue of which 
they took upon them to annul the decrees of 
all the other Sovereigns ; and even to dispense 
with the most sacred moral obligations, im¬ 
posed on all men by God himself: and having 
dared to do so much for the sole purpose of 
making Murat be considered as a private in¬ 
dividual ; they themselves finished after all 
by declaring him both a legislator and a 
monarch. Admirable and exalted policy of 
your chief advisers, whose designs appear so 
clearly developed in their treatment of 
Murat! 

Who, attending to these facts with their 
several circumstances, and to the observations 
already made upon them, can miss discover¬ 
ing the truth P But we may here also further 
observe that your present advisers, always 
unfortunate in their attempts; forlorn in their 


I 


55 

means; imprudent in their precautions; un¬ 
masked in their secrets; and, in the course 
of their base proceedings, humbled even by 
themselves; in this their ill directed and 
worse conceived design, succeeded only in 
setting off to the best advantage possible the 
conduct of the British Commanders in Sicily. 

In the case of Murat your Ministers sus¬ 
pected even those, who afforded you the 
surest support; and therefore refused trusting 
your rival's case to the decision of the Allied 
Princes, the only judges competent to try 
him ; denying him thus the opportunity of 
availing himself of what evidence he had to 
produce; and, what was never withheld from 
the accused, the right of defending himself 
against the charges of his adversaries : there¬ 
by acknowledging, or at any rate not caring 
that it should be thought, either that the 
disclosures he would make, might prove fatal to 
themselves (76); or that they had not sufficient 
proofs, upon which to convict and justly to 
condemn him(77). Thus, in as far as in them 
lay, they made him appear as innocent, or at 
least as not guilty (73); and, at a time the 


least critical for your Majesty, and the 
securest for the kingdom(79), they put him to 
death; defeating thus the humane purpose 
of your beneficent heart, to have snatched 
him from his untimely fate (80). 

Those, who in Sicily had conspired against 
the British army, were on the contrary left 
to be tried by their own fellow peers and 
companions. No means required by them in 
support of their rights,and to refute the charges 
brought against them, were ever withheld. 
Every information, so far from being dreaded, 
was diligently sought after; which clearly 
proved that the only object in view was to 
get at the truth; to make justice triumph ; 
and to secure the public weal. Lieut. 
General Maitland knew so well to distinguish 
the proper evidence brought against the per¬ 
fidious villains, and their abettors ; to watch 
over their attempts, and correspondence ; to 
adopt with the utmost prudence the fittest 
expedients for the occasion ; and to employ 
the surest means of making all their exerted 
% endeavours come to nought (8i); that he not 


57 


only was enabled to convict in the clearest 
manner, the guilty, upon their own proper 
evidence, without their being so much as 
aware of the circumstance ( 82 ) to point out 
the authors, with their accomplices and cor¬ 
respondents ; but even to make the hardened 
ruffians blush for their atrocities, which he 
had exposed to public view (S3). Lord Ben- 
tinck having thus ascertained the reality of 
their most base, felonious, and death-deserv¬ 
ing plot, he nevertheless spared them the 
capital part of the punishment they de¬ 
served, and to which they had been con¬ 
demned; and that too at a time when all 
was full of danger (S4). 

What a contrast is here offered to the 
reader, between such baseness, such caprice, 
the gratification of the vilest passions ; such, 
more than clownish, stupidity; and such 
frankness, generosity, justice, joined with 
such remarkable prudence! 

Sire, The conduct of your Ministers, in 

the case abovementioned, proves that they 

* 


58 


were not capable of realizing a plan, in which 
every thing concurred to favour their design; 
as appearances were in their favour; while 
bribery and corruption might have been suc¬ 
cessfully employed, in securing their object. 
Though so anxious to impose upon the world, 
and, by seeking to make Murat pass for a 
delinquent, to have it supposed that, in thus 
putting him to death, they had only in view 
Mors Corradini, vita Caroli ; the 
counsellors of your Majesty neither knew 
how to conjure up the means of supporting 
the illusion they wished to create; nor to 
take the necessary precautions against its 
detection. What could have prevented their 
giving out that Murat, on landing at Pizzo, 
had marched directly against the fort of that 
place ? Who could have detected the false¬ 
hood, if in the numberless, arbitrary and 
mysterious arrests, which they ordered, they 
had caused the rumour to be spread that such 
had taken place only in consequence of the 
secret intrigues and correspondence disco¬ 
vered to have existed between so many of 
your subjects, and your rival; instead of 


59 


declaring so absurdly, as they did, that by 
those arrests it was intended only to stop the 
progress of Free Masonry and the Carbona- 
rian Societies. 

If your chief advisers really wished it to 
be believed that Murat was condemned to 
death only as a revolutionist, and not for 
his having deserved well of the English, and 
of the Allied Sovereigns; how could they 
ever have thought of entrusting with the first 
situations of the kingdom, the revolutionists 
of Sicily ; and of presenting, at the same 
time, those who, in that country, had strove 
to prevent all disorder; punishing, as they had 
done Murat, all those, who had likewise 
deserved well of the English army, and the 
Allied Sovereigns; and all this at the very 
time that they condemned Murat to death(85). 

Sire, The shortsightedness and stupidity of 
your actual Ministers, serve but as a foil, to 
shew forth, in all their lustre, the foresight 
and prudence of the British Plenipotentiary. 
That noble Lord, in spite of the almost 

E 2 


60 


insurmountable obstacles he met with, knew 
so well how to keep up Murat's illusion (86) • 
so skilfully to meet Napoleon's every subter¬ 
fuge (87) ; and with such uncommonly pro¬ 
vident address, to avail himself even of the 
blunders of your own very courtiers (88); as 
completely to succeed in realizing the most 
arduous of undertakings, that of alienating 
Murat entirely from Napoleon ; and of thus 
ruining both of them at the same time (89). 
As also that of proving to your Majesty the 
perfidy of those, to whom you had confided 
the administration of your kingdom (90); 
and of thus withdrawing you from the pre¬ 
cipice, on the very edge of which you then 
happened to be placed (9i). 

In the proceedings of your Ministers with 
regard to Murat, nothing was seen but the 
untowardness of arbitrary caprice ; of down¬ 
right folly, and of passions the most apt to 
deceive (92). 

In the conduct of that English Commander 
with regard to yourself, to your counsellors, 


61 


favourites and enemies, reason alone, and 
duty, shone throughout triumphant. Every 
other feeling was baffled, or suppressed. On 
witnessing the blackest perfidy, the most 
monstrous and revolting ingratitude, though 
prompted to revenge by the most just re¬ 
sentment ; and urged and instigated on to it 
by the secret and underhand dealings of your 
enemies, your subjects, and even your cour¬ 
tiers (93) ; that truly noble Lord, instead of 
taking any steps against you, or your Mi¬ 
nisters, and their favourites ; sought but to 
exhibit, in all its true light, the glory, good 
faith, and honourable character of his nation. 
His only wish was to fulfil the obligations 
contracted between his Government and your 
Majesty (94), and he therefore only set him¬ 
self against those who endeavoured to eclipse 
the splendour, and compromise the honour of 
the sons of Albion (95). 

The treatment shewn to your rival suf¬ 
ficiently justifies the confidence, with which 
Napoleon, when all his hopes were lost, sur¬ 
rendered himself up to the English. What 


6 C 2 


would have been that individual's fate, had 
he fallen into the hands of Ministers so gene¬ 
rous as yours have proved themselves to be 
towards Murat? This last was put to death, 
with his crime unproved; and at a moment 
the most propitious for yourself, and secure 
for your kingdom. Napoleon's ruin had been 
decided on by the European Princes, and his 
head devoted to the furies. Those of your 
counsels, avowing of their own accord their 
perfidy, durst name, as their head, your 
late Consort: and at those times so very cri¬ 
tical, Lord William Bentinck cancelled the 
sentence of death passed upon them ; and only 
induced your Majesty to act in such a way 
as might increase your rival's suspicions, and 
alienate him from your false friend, in order 
thus to recover for you the kingdom you had 
lost (96). , 

Do not measures so provident, and a ge¬ 
nerosity so very remarkable, shine forth the 
brighter, when narrowly compared and con¬ 
trasted with the stratagems used in vain by 
Napoleon, in order to get possession of 


63 


Sicily ? (97) or with his perfidious conduct 
towards his most sincere and faithful ally, the 
present King of Spain (98) ; and also with that 
of your Ministers towards Murat (99) ? As to 
Murat, it is clear, he was not immolated for 
the national peace or glory ; nor for any ad¬ 
vantage that might thence accrue to your 
Majesty. He was only the expiatory victim 
of the vengeance of fools and villains, offered 
up as a holocaust to the honour of Bonaparte, 
because he happened to be under the pro¬ 
tection of England, and to have deserved 
well of the Allied Sovereigns. 

But why disturb any further the cold ashes 
of that unfortunate or incautious man ? Mu¬ 
rat's fate is already irrevocably decided; and 
in recalling to you these facts ; in exposing 
to you the principle, in which they originated; 
in pointing out the preceding, concomitant, 
and following circumstances of his death, 
I had nothing else in view, but to convince 
you fully how unfit, how perfidious, how fa¬ 
tal and dangerous your present counsellors 
are to yourself and your kingdom. But it 


64 


the case discussed is not sufficient to demon¬ 
strate, to your satisfaction, a truth so evi¬ 
dent, deign only to attend to the other facts 
here submitted to you and detailed. 

Sire, At the very time that Murat was or¬ 
dered to be shot, as a promoter of insurrec¬ 
tion, the Brigands were pardoned ; the assas¬ 
sins were spared ; the revolutionists were ex¬ 
alted to the first posts in the state ; and all 
the opposers of public disorder found them¬ 
selves degraded, imprisoned, or banished 
the kingdom, and exposed to all kinds of hu¬ 
miliating insults ( 10 °). 

Your Ministers will, doubtless, have their 
own reasons, of the most powerful kind, for 
shewing themselves, on the one hand so very 
generous; and on the other, so very unre¬ 
lenting. It is a true proverb, that All fowls 
of one feather flock together; and it is also true 
that they abhor and, shun those of a different 
kind ( 101 ); Is it a conduct, remarkable only 
for this sort of sagacity, that demonstrates 
how wonderfully great and rare the art of 


\ 


65 


your counsellors is, in seeking to appear such 
zealous maintainers of the public peace ; and 
to make Europe believe that Murat was shot 
as a promoter of conspiracy and anarchy ?— 
Sure it is that to encourage crime, is to fo¬ 
ment it; to excuse it, is to protect it; and 
to leave it unpunished, is to facilitate its per¬ 
petration.—But perhaps your advisers never 
reflected on this truth; or they thought them¬ 
selves above attending to it; or, perhaps, 
they had forgotten that the ex-government 
of Naples had represented the Sicilian Cabinet 
as having instigated on, and encouraged 
Brigandism; as being the source of every 
public calamity; and as a second Arimenes, 
the evil genius, and bane of those, who had 
any dependence upon it ( 102 ). Yet, when 
these your Ministers persuaded you to de¬ 
cree that in future no tribunal should take 
cognizance of any crimes committed by the 
Brigands; it was not, we must suppose, 
their intention to favour, or sanction the af¬ 
front thus put upon your Majesty. They, 
doubtless, wished thereby to shew the great¬ 
ness of their own clemency. Most admirable 


66 


clemency to be sure ! To encourage crime ; 
to incite anarchy ; to authorise plunder, and 
the unjust losses of others: and then, at the 
same time, to punish without even a pre¬ 
tence ; to banish some, against whom they 
had no fault to allege ; to arrest and impri¬ 
son others, without any shadow of guilt; 
to reduce whole families to beggary; and then 
make them the unmerited butt of tVieir ob¬ 
loquy : What a strange and unaccountable 
clemency is this! 

These so clement advisers of your Ma¬ 
jesty, persuaded you to entrust the chief 
posts in the kingdom to the Sicilian Revolu¬ 
tionists ; to those very persons, whom your 
Majesty had stiled sacrilegious calumniators ; 
enemies of your throne , and of the country ; 
and whom you wished to have been punished 
in the most exemplary manner. What cause 
could have brought about so strange a me¬ 
tamorphosis as this? What possible reason 
could have produced it ? Was it their own 
integrity ; their wisdom ; their zeal for your 
honour; their endeavours to promote the 


67 


interests of your throne, and the good of the 
public ? or else the sad certainty that in all 
your dominions not one could be found more 
wise, honourable, and worthy, than these 
perfidious wretches? Was it their openly 
avowed zeal to demoralize the mind of every 
subject; or that, with which they sought to 
make it so clearly appear that they, and not 
your Majesty governed the country ? 

Was it their integrity, that so recommend¬ 
ed them ? The miscreants ! who had strove 
to excite disorders ; and acted the part of 
assassins? Was it their wisdom that distin¬ 
guished them? They, who, when every thing 
was in their favour, could realize none of 
their own designs ? So w 7 eak and stupid did 
they appear in the court-martial held upon 
them at Messina, that the British Com¬ 
manders could not help thinking them more 
worthy of pity than of indignation. The very 
officers of your own army were irresistibly 
provoked to smile at their idiotic and ninny 
appearance : and I myself, who never pre¬ 
tended, on such and such important occa- 


68 


sions, to pass for a statesman, or one of un¬ 
common abilities; have, notwithstanding, 
so often led them by the nose, and twisted 
them round my finger, that I have truly felt 
for them, on finding them such complete 
boobies, and mere children in grey hairs. Is 
it by a metamorphosis, the reverse of Nebu- 
chadonosor's, that, stripped of their old ha¬ 
bits, they have become all at once men, ci¬ 
tizens, and sages ; and, above all, up¬ 
right, enlightened, and calculated to pro¬ 
mote the prosperity of those subjects, which 
Providence has committed to your care ? 
Sire, Their actual political conduct clearly 
bespeaks their merit; which you will suffi¬ 
ciently perceive from the following obser¬ 
vations —Idem semper esi idem ubicumque 
ponatur. 

Their zeal for your honour ! they, who to 
avoid the consequences of their treacherous 
machinations, and egregious incapacity,durst, 
in an open council of war, and in the face of 
all Europe, declare that their conspiracy 
against the British army in Sicily, had been 


69 


projected and promoted in concert with your 
court, and by its express orders! They, 
who thus exposed to the most humiliating 
discredit your Majesty's nearest connexions ! 
They, who at present only seek to cast all 
their own infamy on your shoulders ! They, 
who force you to adopt a conduct, which, 
were not your principles and personal probity 
too well known, would make them, the per¬ 
fidious, the infamous, the sacrilegious calum¬ 
niators, pass for honourable and just; and 
your Majesty the only one in the wrong, for 
ever blaming or thwarting them. 

Their exertions for the good of the 
country ! the good of which they doubtless 
sought, at first in exciting to anarchy ; and 
now seek in exercising oppression ; and stir¬ 
ring up among your subjects the dangerous 
spirit of jealousy and rivalry; and this to such 
a degree, as to deprive of their most sacred 
rights and ancient privileges, those, and only 
those, who had shewn the firmest attachment 
to your Majesty ; those, who had twice re¬ 
ceived you when a fugitive; had defended 


70 


you when you were betrayed ; and, always 
faithful and loyal, who supported you in your 
most abandoned and forlorn state; making 
cheerfully for your sake the greatest possible 
sacrifices. And at the very moment that 
they were doing so, your worthy Ministers 
thought fit to deprive these, your most faith¬ 
ful subjects, of the means the most condu¬ 
cive to their prosperity and grandeur ; and, 
while seeking only to gratify their own pri¬ 
vate resentment, strove to paralize the na¬ 
tional energy; to fetter and inthral the public 
spirit; to encourage vice and the basest 
passions ; and, in fine, to deprave, as much 
as in them lay, the people's morals, and ha¬ 
bitual sense of equity. 

Their zeal for the interests of your throne ! 
What excellent proof did they not afford of 
this ; by their so humbling the Sovereign ; 
and throwing such obstacles in the way of the 
resources of his subjects! 

Such, Sire, are the beneficent views, which 
so much distinguish the worthies, in whom 


71 


you now place the greatest confidence. With 
what anxious anticipation did not these illus¬ 
trious promoters of confusion project the 
destruction of your Allies; and the intro¬ 
duction of Bonaparte's army into Sicily ! 

Sire, had these their projects succeeded to 
their utmost wish (103); had the British army 
been entirely cut off, and their Commanders 
assassinated; and had, in consequence of 
such an assassination and massacre, the ene¬ 
my's troops found their way into Sicily; 
what would vour Majesty and Sicily have 
gained by the change ? 

Your Majesty would have been ruined for 
ever, had you not made common cause with 
the revolutionists. And had you made com¬ 
mon cause with them ; what would not your 
sacred and royal character have suffered in 
the eyes of all men ! 

Your refusal to side with them, had a re¬ 
volution succeeded, would have exposed you 
to the dreadful consequences of an anarchy, 


72 


wholly directed against yourself: while, had 
you sided with them, and thus acted the part ot 
aPTOLOMYontheORETUs,unableofyourself 
to inspire any confidence ; or to obtain any 
assistance from foreign powers ; you would 
have had to fear seeing yourself at last set 
aside by that very Napoleon, who had 
such an interest in the betraying of the Eng¬ 
lish ; but none at all in maintaining a Bourbon 
on the throne ; none at all in removing those 
through whose oppressive measures he him¬ 
self continued to reign; none at all in rein¬ 
stating a dynasty, which he had solemnly 
sworn, a little before, never to allow more to 
sway the Neapolitan sceptre ; none at all, in 
fine, in putting at the head of nations, Princes 
who might occasion his own downfal ; and to 
whom he had, on so many occasions, shewn 
the most inveterate aversion ; as his conduct 
with regard to the Bourbons of Spain in par¬ 
ticular, had proved in the most flagrant 
manner (104). But supposing even that the 
Ruler of the French had altered in your fa¬ 
vour alone, all his interested views and prin¬ 
ciples ; and that he had chosen faithfully to 




73 


realize all the promises he had made to your 
Majesty ; bad be it in his power to secure to 
you their fulfilment P Could he also exempt 
you from the opprobrious and fatal conse¬ 
quences ; infallibly arising from the vile and 
ruinous measures you had given into P In spite \ 
of Napoleon’s professedly kind intentions to 
you, did he not even dethrone his brother ? 

And have not all his brothers been driven 
from their usurped kingdoms ? Instead of 
passing among the other Sovereigns, for what 
you now are, a sincere friend ; and of being 
by all respected as a legitimate Monarch; 
had you, in the case supposed, allowed 
yourself in the year 1811 to have been hur¬ 
ried along by the turbulent faction of those, 
who now shine so exalted by your side; 
would you have then been considered as that 
illustrious Prince, that revered Sovereign, 
which you now are ( 105 )P 

And as to Sicily, what would it have 
gained, had the British army in 1811 been 
betrayed, or forced to abandon it ? And 
what could that island have expected from 

F 


74 


finding itself under the influence of the French 
Ruler ? Facts, analogy, the clearest possible 
reasons, and most evident principles, de¬ 
monstrate what then would have been the 
case. Facts , in as much as, while those na¬ 
tions subjected to the domination of France, 
were all reduced to a state of pauperism and 
uncertainty, yet forced to make the most 
painful sacrifices; the Sicilians, assisted and 
protected by the British Government, en¬ 
joyed peace and security in the bosom of 
their own country, and in the midst of abun- 
dance. No one forced from them their chil¬ 
dren, to expose them to the greatest dangers 
and sufferings in foreign lands. No one ex¬ 
torted forced loans from them. They were 
not exposed to the consequences of a military 
invasion; nor subjected to the notorious 
founding system; and the tyranny of a po¬ 
lice which suspected every thing ; whose 
decrees were final; and the orders of its 
conductors the most arbitrary and absolute. 
No contributions were raised upon them for 
the subsistence of the British troops. The 
English Government, with a generosity 


75 


scarcely imaginable, at the same time that it 
shielded your throne from harm, supplied 
even the wants of your Palace; of the 
State ; of your connections; of your very cour¬ 
tiers : and afforded the most propitious oppor¬ 
tunity to the people, whom you governed, of 
forwarding their interests ( I06 ). The disci¬ 
pline, and that rare subordination, which so 
distinguished the English troops,and rendered 
them the wonder of every one; the rigour, 
with which every, the very least outrage they 
committed, was punished ; the strict atten¬ 
tion of their commanders to prevent all vex¬ 
ations, and to hinder your subjects from 
suffering any violence; instead of injuring 
them; afforded only in all their conduct ex¬ 
amples of moderation, and proofs of the sup¬ 
port they afforded to your people. New 
means of profiting, and therefore new incite¬ 
ments to exertion and activity, which were 
daily,through them,and,without interruption, 
successively presenting themselves to the 
Sicilians; had already rendered that people, 
who were lately so poor and wretched, at that 
time wealthy and happy( 107 ). Messina thus in 

r 2 


76 


no time was rebuilt. Money had diminished 
in value by becoming more common. The 
productions of the country had risen in price. 
Its commerce assumed a more flourishing as¬ 
pect ; and its ports became the emporeum of 
foreign trade. The Sicilian flag began to be 
respected. Prosperity attended on the en¬ 
deavours of its natives ; kindled their hopes ; 
and enabled them to reflect, without regret, 
on the once glorious condition of their ances- 
tors. The British influence in Sicily, the 
constant object of which was to oppose all 
arbitrary measures, and to prevent all 
cruelty,disorder,and faction( 108 ); had nothing 
so much at heart as to reconcile these Islan¬ 
ders with their own proper government; to 
harmonize and amalgamate their minds 
together; to attach them to their country and 
your throne ; to secure to them for ever their 
rights; to regulate well their motions; to 
combine their forces; to teach them how to 
turn their means to the best account; and, 
while thus enabling them to augment and im¬ 
prove the resources of their country, to 
render them a more respectable people; and 


77 


especially, by granting them the important 
right of being represented in the government, 
to restore to the nation its former character 
of virtue and renown, which had so distin¬ 
guished it during the Greek Republicks( 109 ). 

Had Sicily, instead of being thus placed 
under the direction of Great Britain, found 
itself under the influence of the common 
enemy ; what then could it expect to have 
been its fate? Sicily, in its insulated state, 
and exposed only to the attacks of the En¬ 
glish, must, in such a case, either have 
dropped altogether, or, owing to almost in¬ 
surmountable obstacles, must have suspended 
commerce ; and that beautiful countrv, en- 
riched by nature with the most fertile of 
soils, so abounding in native productions, 
though but ill supplied with manufactures; 
would have found the fruits of its own growth, 
accumulating upon it, for want of exporta¬ 
tion ; which, as far exceeding the home con¬ 
sumption, would have remained on hand a 
perfect caput moiituum of industry ; quite 
useless on the spot that produced them. 

p 3 


78 


The nation, thus deprived of its chief re¬ 
sources, could not help sinking back into the 
meagre, cold, and painful embraces of want, 
languor, and disorder. 

r-), t ■ ( 

This however is but one side of the pic¬ 
ture ; for on the other hand, while under the 
influence of the continental system, and ex¬ 
posed to the attacks of new, and more to be 
dreaded, assojustlv provoked enemies ; who 
could have secured to it the peace it enjoyed; 
or exempted it from the hard duties it would 
have had then to perform P Who could have 
then freed it from the necessity of making 
forced loans, and daily contributions; from 
military conscriptions; from the thraldom 
of a mysterious and peremptory police ; from 
constant impositions of every kind ; and from 
sacrifices to be made of the most afflictive 
nature ? Sire, Would Napoleon have sent you 
on so trying an occasion, assistance from 
Paris; and with all that generosity, with 
which Great Britain sent you her's from 
London P Would the commanders of his 
troops have been as exact, as those of the 


79 


English, in paying for their furnished quar¬ 
ters? Or his soldiers so scrupulous in attend¬ 
ing to the principles of reason and honour ; so 
humane in sympathising with the poorer sort 
of your subjects ; so very forgiving, as not to 
call to mind the Sicilian Vespers, of such 
fatal celebrity to the Gallic invaders of that 
country? Would they have circulated there 
in such plenty the money sent them from 
Paris, as the English did that, so punctually 
remitted to them from Malta and London ? 

Behold then the incalculable injuries, done 
to your Majesty and the country, by those, 
who, opposing the common enemy's influence, 
so readily concurred in preserving Sicily 
from his grasp; and in promoting in that 
country the British System ( 110 ). Behold 
the dire mischiefs, for which the British army, 
and the English residing in Messina, had in¬ 
curred the high displeasure, and merited the 
maledictions of your favorites. These were 
the crimes, for which they so deserved to be 
assassinated, and that too by the direction of 
your most illustrious advisers. Behold also 


80 


the mighty advantages, which the Sicilian 
Revolutionists sought to render to your Ma¬ 
jesty, though incapable of realizing their 
object. Behold why since pluming them¬ 
selves on havihg formed so noble a project; 
and relying on the rare wisdom with which 
they conducted it throughout; they have ac¬ 
quired so indubitable a right to the highest 
situations in the state. Behold the wonder¬ 
fully meritorious exertions which they so 
strenuously displayed on the occasion alluded 
to; and by which they rendered themselves 
worthy of such high esteem, as that which 
they now so exclusively enjoy. Or rather be¬ 
hold, in the facts just stated, now clearly ex¬ 
posed to the public view, the genius or dis¬ 
position, the designs, and the real character 
of the men, who are just now your counsel¬ 
lors: Genius capable of upsetting your 

whole kingdom ; which could fling all their 
own infamy upon your royal shoulders; 
could thwart and oppose even your Majesty ; 
making it thus appear that it is not you, but 
they who governed the nation. Designs, 
by which they strive to promote all the con- 


81 


/ 


sequences of encouraged guilt; soliciting to 
that effect the co-operation of their perfidious 
companions in absolute power; these new 
Midases, that figure so ridiculously in your 
councils of state : Character, so noted 
for favouring with unblushing partiality the 
most openly allowed revolutionists and as¬ 
sassins ; and for persecuting all those of a 
different description, whose principles were 
diametrically opposed to theirs. 

Sire, On the beauteous banks of the 
Sebetus and Oretes, were there then 
none to be found, who could equal in point 
of uprightness, loyalty and prudence, such 
wretches as these ? ought your people besides 
to undergo so unmerited an affront, put upon 
them by such a choice ? Or did your actual 
advisers still want this additional proof, to 
convince all Europe that not without reason 
in 1799? the Paris-Cabinet described the Si¬ 
cilian government as ever bent on persecuting 
the wisest and most illustrious of your sub- 
jects? Or was it their wish to convince every 
one that you had no true friends remaining, 
nor any claims to the love ofyour people^ 11 )? 


82 


Sire, If it is not absurd to trace back the 
cause from the effects; and in the identity 
of the consequences to mark the principle 
from which they proceed ; it would thus ap¬ 
pear, as if your Ministers had discovered that 
they who had conspired with Murat to revo¬ 
lutionize your kingdom, - were Lord Wil¬ 
liam BENTINCK ; THE FRIENDS OF 
the English and favourers of the 
Constitutional System; the whole 
of Sicily; more especially Great 
Britain; and even the heir appa¬ 
rent to your throne : for these alone, 
at the time that Murat was ordered to be 
put to death, saw themselves insulted by 
your Ministers, abhorred, vilified, degraded 
and persecuted. 

But, Sire, setting all other considerations 
aside, let your Majesty deign only to re¬ 
flect, whether leave was refused Lord Wil¬ 
liam Bentinck to disembark at Naples, be¬ 
cause he was considered as a personage 
dangerous to your government; and in 


83 


order to demonstrate how improperly you 
had acted in entrusting him with such un¬ 
limited powers at Palermo ( 112 ): or whether 
such a refusal did not shew how much he had 
deserved to incur the displeasure of your 
actual advisers, for his having so well de¬ 
fended Sicily ; for his having extricated your 
Majesty from the snares they had laid for 
you; for his having accomplished at the 
same time the overthrow of your false friend 
and your rival; and for his having com¬ 
plete tly succeeded, after discharging so ho¬ 
nourably the trust put in him, in replacing 
you on the throne of your ancestors ( 113 )P 
Or whether in fine your actual advisers did 
not first thus basely insult that noble Lord 
at Naples ; and thence afterwards send to 
him at Rome a snuff-box as a present from 
your Majesty, in testimony of the important 
services which he had rendered you : in order 
thus to shew the arbitrary inconsistency of 
their own weak, silly and ridiculous conduct; 
to make parade of their innate perfidy ; and 
still more and more to degrade your sacred 
and royal character ( 114 ). 


84 


The officers of the Anglo-Calabrese and 
Anglo-Italian corps, whom you yourself 
had engaged to serve in the British army, 
promising to consider their services as 
rendered to your throne ( Uo ). After hav¬ 
ing thus performed their duty, so as 
to merit the most flattering eulogiums of 
their commanders ( ll6 ), instead of being 
rewarded or compensated, were degraded 
by your actual Ministers. And why ? 
Was it because they had obeyed your 
royal orders; or for not having concurred 
with your actual advisers in hurrying you 
into measures the most imprudent and fatal ? 
The crime of these officers, was it to have 
trusted to the promises, which you had made 
them; or not to have understood that only 
the assertions of your favourites were to be 
relied upon ? Sire, your actual Ministers 
persuaded you to persecute a great propor¬ 
tion of these officers ; to treat others, as un¬ 
worthy of being any more employed ; or, on 
admitting the least objectionable among 
them into the service, to reduce them a 
step beneath the rank which they had held 


85 


in the British army( 117 ). What was the ob¬ 
ject of all this ? Was it to deprive merit of its 
recompence; to destroy all stimulus to vir¬ 
tue ; to subvert reasons empire, and to for¬ 
bid the valour of your subjects to be any 
more at the disposal of your Majesty P Was 
it to render the British army,more despicable 
than any other one, particularly than your 
own? And was this compliment intended to 
be paid them for having so bravely and suc¬ 
cessfully supported you ? Or was it not in¬ 
tended by such a proceeding to shew the 
rage of your Counsellors against these troops ; 
and the reality of their project then to have 
assassinated them ; and now to degrade them 
in the general estimation which they have 
acquired ? 

Sire, I have suffered for seven months the 
most horrible confinement without being allow¬ 
ed a hearing,and without any reason whatever 
being assigned for my detention ( 118 ). I was 
subjected to the most injurious and cruel 
treatment, and banished from my country 
for ever ; torn from my family, relations and 


86 


friends ; deprived of my property and natu¬ 
ral rights ; and, without the least necessary 
means of subsistence, transported to a coun¬ 
try of barbarians ; and there left exposed to 
misery, opprobrium and the plague. Did I 
deserve such unusually savage treatment for 
not having betrayed the trust reposed in me; 
for having saved the British army in Mes¬ 
sina from the fatal catastrophe that threat¬ 
ened them ; and obeyed the orders of your 
Majesty ; or for having disdained to attend 
to those of your favourites, so diametrically 
opposite to your’s ; so subversive of the pub¬ 
lic good; having for object only to expose the 
country to the most disastrous calamities ; 
and your Majesty to the greatest dangers, 
injuries and humiliations! Were they not 
enough, Sire, the troubles, misfortunes, risks 
and losses I had already endured, for having 
lent myself to your service at the solicitation 
of your chief agents ; and exerted myself in 
supporting your cause? And was it with 
Ostracism and exile that all my zeal for 
your interest was to be rewarded ; zeal with 

«/ y 

which, at the most evident hazard of my life, 


87 


I saved my native country from all the hor¬ 
rors oi plunder and devastation( 119 )? 

But putting myself out of the question ; 
Prince Belmonte, Colonel Carbone, Prince 
Cattolica, Count Moncada, the Cavaliere 
Ruggiero Settimo; Prince Carini, that of 
Villafranca, the Marquis Sorrentini of Cata¬ 
nia, the. Cavaliere Paterno, the Prince of 
Jaci, that of Villermosa, that of Petrulla ; 
and so very many other persons, distin¬ 
guished for their love of their country, and 
excellent character; were not these so held in 
abhorrence, and so outraged by your now 
demonstrated no less illustrious and wise, 
than tenebrific Ministers ; because they had 
withstood and baffled all the subterfuges of 
perfidy ; and because they would not sub¬ 
scribe to the extravagances ot your favourites; 
and to that ridiculous system of taxation, so 
new in the history of civil economy; by 
which a very clear sighted and provident 
member of your actual ministry endeavoured 
to destroy all individual right to property, 
and to disfranchise the nations ( 12() ). Or 


✓ 


88 


were these so hated and degraded for receiv¬ 
ing with such transport that constitution, 
which had already plucked off the mask ol 
folly and infamy ; making those perfidious 
idiots, who now advise you, appear in all 
their true and odious colours ? 

By inducing you, Sire, to strip Sicily of 
those privileges, which, on submitting to your 
predecessors, it had reserved to itself, and 
had for so many ages enjoyed ; and by de¬ 
priving it of that constitution, which the 
common wish and public good so required ; 
constitution which you yourself had granted, 
and the enjoyment of which Great Britain 
had guaranteed to it for fifteen - years ; 
did not your Ministers intend by putting the 
greatest affront possible upon the English; 
their faith be ever more discredited ; 
and thus to render the future attempts of 
their government abroad inefficacious and 
abortive*! Or did they rather wish to make 
it be thought that your Majesty possessed 
none of the best and most estimable of cha¬ 
racters ; or to revenge themselves in the most 


89 


conspicuous manner on the Sicilians, who 
wished so much for a political regimen the 
most opposite to egotism and caprice; and 
to the vile and interested views of your Mi¬ 
nisters : a regimen, which by authorizing 
the people to look into the conduct of their 
representatives, exposed your actual coun¬ 
sellors to derision and the utmost contempt. 
What wonder then that they should wish 
Sicily enslaved and betrayed ? Can their 
wish ever succeed ? Or will it be to your Ma¬ 
jesty's advantage or honour to have sought 
to realize or promote it ? 

Is it just? When did ever Sicily deserve to 
forfeit all its rights and privileges (121)P 
After having so sinned in the eyes of your 
actual counsellors in not assisting them in 
their anarchical projects; in not making 
common cause with the enemy; but in hav¬ 
ing on the contrary proved to you its un¬ 
shaken fidelity ? Was it then your Majesty, 
or them, whom Sicily had injured ? Is it you 
therefore or they, who sought to punish it 
for such a transgression ( 122 )? 

G 


90 


Can their wish succeed ? A people, who 
used such extraordinary exertions, to prevent 
their being degraded or enslaved; who had 
just emerged from the evils, to which for 
such a length of time the oppressive Baronial 
System had subjected them; who saw and 
began to feel the salutary effects of civil 
liberty ; will such a people so easily stoop 
again to the yoke of the wildest caprice. 

Sicily abounding with ingenious and enter¬ 
prising individuals; rich in resources of every 
kind; an object so worth the coveting by 
strangers ; linked by the mutual ties of in¬ 
terest, with so many other nations ; protected 
by so many strong holds and fortresses ; the 
rival of Naples ; irritated besides by the con¬ 
duct of such Ministers ; accustomed to poli¬ 
tical changes, and habituated to privation's of 
every kind ; the natives of which can com¬ 
municate their meaning without the aid of 
speech ; will such a nation lie down quietly, 
and slumber unconcerned, the scorn and 
laughing stock of your assassins P Will it 
never dream of acting over again its vespers ? 
Will it not know those who ought to assist, 


91 


who are interested in supporting it? Will 
your Majesty have no enemy more remaining, 
to whom the Sicilian may turn, in order to 
extricate himselt from a state so degrading 
and humiliatino* ? 

o 

Suppose your favourites now wield the 
wand of Circe, and can so in a moment change 
the circumstances and character of nations ; 
will it also enable them without any difficulty 
to oppress, and at the same time retain 
Sicily ? May not its example open the eyes of 
your other subjects ? And where will be the 
advantage to your throne in so trampling 
upon and vilifying your people ? Will your 
favourites then have the courage to defend it ? 
the anxiety for upholding it? the means of 
supporting it? the patriotism to make it be 
respected? the disposition for good order; 
necessary to settle and perpetuate it ? Let 
every suspicion on that head be ever so 
ephemeral; tat the motives, on which such 
is grounded, be ever so vain ; let circum¬ 
stances be as favourable to it, and the 
chances against it as chimerical as you 
please ; were it even possible so to depress 

g 2 


✓ 


92 

Sicily, and transmit it securely so from hand 
to hand ; would it be considered as fair and 
honourable to do so ? Must we then hence¬ 
forth call that virtue or justice, to usurp the 
rights of others; to betray the peopled con¬ 
fidence ; to insult one's friend,to oppress one's 
benefactor; and all this, forsooth, because it 
is for one's interest, or because one has the 
means and the power of doing so ? 

Is this then the time of recalling to the 
mind of princes the project of Themistocles ; 
and of making them prefer their interest to 
their honour ( 123 )P Has Europe then become 
so holy in her alliance, as to adopt the sys¬ 
tem of Obesius P Will she bestow the title of 
upright and illustrious on a government, 
which forfeits the confidence of its subjects ; 
destroys its chief resources ; deprives a na¬ 
tion of its rights; a nation too stiled by 
that very government, a most meritorious 
and loyal one ? It follows also that every 
usurper may sanction his conduct by such a 
precedent; and that your Majesty cannot 
justly complain, or call in question the views 
of any one who may happen to invade your 


93 


kingdom, obliging you thus to betake your¬ 
self to flight, to abandon your people and to 
forfeit all your rights of sovereignty. 

Sicily is stripped of all its ancient privi¬ 
leges, and deprived of its actual constitution, 
because it adhered with transport to the new 
system granted to it! A nation then is to be 
thus made the butt of scorn and oppression, 
for having so readily obeyed the will of its 
Sovereign ! for wishing together with its own 
proper advantages, to secure those of your 
throne ! for shewing itself friendly to order, 
regularity and justice ; and so averse to the 
perfidy and caprice of others ! 

Sire, Deign well here to consider, that the de¬ 
sign of your Ministers in persuadingyou to treat 
Sicily so very ill, was to make it sensible of the 
egregious blunders it committed in so willingly 
supporting your cause amidst the greatest and 
most urgent dangers; it was to make it repent for 
having resisted the common enemy, instead 
of seconding their own projects; it was to 
compel it to give up a cause so very ungrate¬ 
ful and fatal to it, as youris must thus appear 

g 3 


94 


to be ; and it was finally in order to furnish 
Europe by such a conduct motives for ques¬ 
tioning the good faith and character of the 
Allied Sovereigns. These Sovereigns had pro¬ 
mised to secure the prosperity and indepen¬ 
dence of all those who should join them 
against the Ex-emperor of France. Sicily, 
always inimical to Bonaparte, always faithful 
to his adversaries, that on every occasion had 
shewn itself so attached to its legitimate 
Prince; had concurred so much to the 
downfal of Napoleon, had so contributed 
to better the fate of its Monarch, and to fa¬ 
cilitate the success of the Allied Powers ; has 
only been compensated with insults, humilia¬ 
tions, contempt, the loss of its privileges, 
and the privation of its rights ( l24 ). It is 
thus, Sire, that your MajestvT assessors re¬ 
spect the glory of every other Monarch ; your 
own honour, and the interests of the people, 
whom providence has entrusted to your care! 

Great Britain, for who can overlook it ? 
As the acknowledgment of such great, such 
unheard of sacrifices made by that power to 
maintain you on your throne, has been the 


.95 


most exposed to the insults of your Ministers, 
and treated by them in the most injurious 
manner. It was only in your dominions that 
her passports were disregarded; that her 
friends are persecuted ; that those who had 
deserved well of her, are degraded ; and that 
her vilest adversaries are exalted. The mea¬ 
sures concerted between her agents and yours; 
the promises made by her to the people ; 
were by your assessors contradicted and 
rendered nugatory. In as far as they were 
able, they strove to make her good faith be 
called in question; to bring her armies into 
contempt; to injure and affront in the most 
formal manner the most distinguished and 
respectable of her subjects : and so evident 
is the reality of these facts, that it would be 
the most ridiculous pyrrhonism to doubt of 
them for one moment. And this being so 
undeniably the case, you may, perhaps, won¬ 
der at the slowness observed, and the ineffi- 
ciency of the means hitherto employed by the 
English Plenipotentiary at your court, to pre¬ 
vent or remedy such grievances : or you may 
be induced to imagine that the rare art is 
not unknown in your kingdom, that with 


96 


which Eneas stilled the barking of the three¬ 
headed Cerbems : Or you may think your 
Ministers possessed of the magic ring, whenever 
they treat with that British Agent, by which 
they are enabled to conceal from him all 
their projects, however clear and evident. 
Sire, the investigation of this point is nothing 
to our purpose at present. The conduct of 
the British Representative at your court is 
doubtless so regulated from the most power¬ 
ful of motives ; and it is no ways improba¬ 
ble but what we shall have occasion at some 
future period to consider this subject more 
expressly, minutely, and in detail. What fol¬ 
lows is all we presume just now to recom¬ 
mend to your particular attention. 

It is doubtless, Sire, very much to the in¬ 
terest of the perfidious, of the actual agents of 
Napoleon, to make England appear to have 
acted towards Sicily, as Lewis the Fifteenth 
of France did towards the unfortunate Prince 
of the house of Stewart. This is the only 
way of making her be considered both by 
the Sicilians and by every other nation, as 
the malefic genius of those states, who may 


97 


ever after trust to her; and of making her 
lose all her external influence, and all her 
credit with foreign governments. Could 
one, who thought it his duty to attach him¬ 
self to such a nation, avoid doing all in his 
power to free her character from so black a 
calumny, and one so little merited by the 
sons of Albion ? Would you, Sire, who owe 
so much to the British Government, make 
that a crime in me, which it is so much my 
duty to perform ? 

It suits the purposes of impostors, and the 
friends of disorder; of the secret confidants 
and most faithful agents of the common 
enemy; to make the Allied Sovereigns be 
taxed so with the Grmca fides, or their 
want of good faith ; and considered by Eu¬ 
ropeans but as so many flattering state-har¬ 
pies ; for Napoleon may thus be excused for 
all the mischief he has done ; and admired for 
what are represented as his noble exploits. 
His system will thus be longed for ; his name 
will be rendered dear to all; and his empire 
become the general wish of the nations. 


98 


What surer means, Sire, could be pitched 
upon, to set off Bonaparte to advantage, than 
that of so discrediting the wisdom, and de¬ 
basing the character of his antagonists, the 
Allied Princes? And in what other way 
could they so securely acquire esteem for 
him, than by covering these with infamy, 
and rendering them in the eye of the public 
despicable, and unworthy of being ever more 
trusted to. 

It is but too advantageous to your illus¬ 
trious assessors, thus to depress and insult 
every where the people you govern; and 
especially those who have shewn themselves 
the most faithful to you, and the most at¬ 
tached to honour and your interest. This is 
the most efficacious way to extinguish in the 
breasts of your subjects every affection to¬ 
wards you; to induce them to act according 
to the views of your favourites ; and thus to 
depress your authority, in order to exalt the 
more, and secure their own. 

All these, Sire, are the most evident ma¬ 
chinations of iniquity and perfidy; and he 


99 


must be a perfidious villain, or a most per¬ 
niciously selfish wretch, who endeavours to 
conceal such facts, who uses subterfuges in 
order to palliate or excuse them; and who 
studies only thus to betray at the same time 
your Majesty and your subjects, Great Bri¬ 
tain and the Allied Monarchs; thereby 
proving himself to be a promoter of disorder, 
and every way deserving the people’s abhor¬ 
rence, the indignation of every Sovereign, 
and the execration of all Europe. 

And do they not shew themselves actuated 
by the same principles, who made you so 
expose, and still induce you so to thwart, 
your First-born and Heir Apparent? This 
Son, so truly dutiful and affectionate; a 
Prince besides, not less loving of your sub¬ 
jects, than beloved by them, and admired 
for his wisdom ; declared himself in Palermo 
for the Constitutional System, for the wish 
of your people, the public good, and the 
measures of England. This conduct, so 
judiciously adopted, acquired him the esteem 
of all friends, and the confidence of your 


i 


100 


subjects. He thus succeeded in bringing to 
nought the design of the wicked ; in warding 
off from vour throne and people the ruinous 
consequences I have just been mentioning; 
in repairing the errors of Government, and 
thus preserving for you that kingdom, which 
the perfidious, which your actual advisers, 
had so endeavoured to make you lose for 
ever. Sire, be assured in fine that this Prince's 
virtue alone was that Iris of peace, that con¬ 
ciliating power, which reconciled your Ma¬ 
jesty with your friends, your subjects, and 
your protectors; and which overturned the 
deep-formed plan of making your sceptre 
pass into other hands, and transferring your 
kingdom to a new pretender of your own 
connections ( 125 ). 

Those, however, a thing unheard of be¬ 
fore, who had attempted to do this, and who 
then shewed themselves prompted by such a 
treacherous wish, are now the favourites at 
your Court; while the legitimate Heir of 
your throne, a Son so well deserving of your 
Majesty, of your friends, of your people, 


c < 
r. <. (. 


101 


finds himself now neglected, and depressed, 
particularly insulted, and at one period so 
exposed ( 126 ). 

Sire, Can he be accounted a friend to your 
Majesty, who seeks to conceal such facts 
from your knowledge ; or strives to represent 
them to you as the very reverse of what they 
really are ? Is such a person anxious for the 
good of your subjects, who studies so* to 
deceive you in what so nearly concerns you 
and them ? 

Sire, The philanthropic, the loyal, the up¬ 
right, the generous Briton, will not,I trust,have 
as yet forgotten, that through the wisdom 

and virtue of his country’s former Minister, 

*✓ 

your Majesty discovered and acknowledged 
the perfidy and wickedness of your advisers ; 
of those very advisers, who, though then 
disgraced, are now so unaccountably seated 
close to your throne ; and from the gulph of 
infamy, into which their crimes as well as 
folly had plunged them, they have finally 
emerged like so many first-rate luminaries of 


102 


state; or rather political Hydras of your 
kingdom. We would fain hope, notwith¬ 
standing, that England, which has hitherto 
held out to Princes her undeceiving mirror, 
would use her benefic influence to induce at 
last your Majesty to consider and ponder 
well such important truths ; and thus to se¬ 
cure to the Sicilians their promised inde¬ 
pendence ; to those, who had deserved well 
of the English, that consideration which is 
their due ; to yourself your honour ; to Eng¬ 
land her glory; and their good faith to the 
Allied Sovereigns. 

It is to implore this, the realization of 
which is so truly worthy of British virtue, 
and so claimed by the rights of all nations, 
that I have ventured to come from such 
distant countries. If my counsels succeeded 
in extricating the British army from the 
deadly dangers to which it was exposed; 
and in preventing your Majesty from giving 
into measures the most false and ruinous ; if 
my having become on this account the victim 
of those miscreants, who endeavoured to ex- 


103 


pose me to such risks, with the sole view of 
accomplishing thus my destruction; if all 
this may give me some claim to your Ma¬ 
jesty's gratitude and that of Great Britain ; 
I have no wish to avail myself of it otherwise 
than to obtain the object mentioned : which 
I implore, not merely as due to all Sicily, but 
as much more due to the glory and good 
faith of Great Britain; to the honour of the 
Allied Powers ; and to the most vital interests 
of your Majesty. 

Can you forget, Sire, that while assisted 
by the faithful Tanucci, you were the dar¬ 
ling object and delight of your subjects? 
And will you disdain here to observe, how, 
influenced by such stupid and perfidious 
counsellors, as those by whom you are just 
now directed, you have become the involun¬ 
tary scourge of the nation subjected to your 
sway ? Can you already have forgotten that 
under the guidance of your actual Ministers 
and assessors, you experienced the most fatal 
consequences of their measures, most wretch¬ 
edly calculated, and therefore most unsuc- 


104 


cessful ? Will you not be pleased to reflect 
that the beauteous soil of the Oretes and 
Sebetus abounded and still abounds in 
men the most distinguished, not less for the 
purity of their morals, than for their political 
skill and public economy; and in persons 
every way remarkable for their honour and 
patriotism ( 127 ). 

Oh! may England's friendly influence in¬ 
duce you at length to make these considera¬ 
tions, which are of such infinite and essential 
importance ! Let England be that mediating 
Divinity, who dashing down, and crushing 
under his majestic steps the vain aspiring 
monster Perfidy ; and dissipating all the wi¬ 
zard's foul and complicated illusions ; may 
succeed in reconciling you with the wishes 
of your subjects and friends; and in se¬ 
curing thus the peace and harmony of your 
kingdom ! Of this goddess of peace, let every 
one acknowledge the just decisions! Let 
all Europe consider her as its friendly genius ? 
Let none ever have reason to regret their 
having trusted to her assurances; nor the 


105 


friends of disorder to make her influence be 
discredited ! Let the wisdom and truth of 
Great Britain form that point of union, in 
which peace and justice meet and kiss each 
other; so that every other Prince, warned 
by her great and imposing example, may be 
enabled to perceive that it were folly to think 
that peace can be obtained by the oppression 
of the people ; and that where injustice is the 
medium and infamy the means, the tran¬ 
quillity and prosperity of nations are looked 
for in vain. 

This, Sire, is what I most ardently wish 
in behalf of insulted humanity; nor in this 
have I any other object in view than to favour 
the cause of England, the Allied Powers, 
your Majesty and my country. 

With this sole view I still presume to 
beseech you to distinguish my real motives for 
thus addressing you; and to trace them at¬ 
tentively in what I have still to offer to your 
observation. By it you will easily discern 
the advantage or mischief derived to the 
state from the administrative system pursued 

H 


106 ' 


/ 


by your actual counsellors; and you may 
thus, without any fear of erring, pronounce 
most decisively in favour of that party, who 
has reason on its side. 

Salus Popcjli suprema Lex esto. 

Sire, 

The citizen has rights on government pro¬ 
portioned to the duties it obliges him to 
perform. Your Ministers, while they oblige 
him to comply with these his duties, cannot 
deny him his rights; and should they at¬ 
tempt to withhold these from him, they 
thereby cancel the obligation he has of per¬ 
forming his duties to that government, which 
so denies him his rights. 

The subject, though constantly beset with 
wants, has still certain means left him of pro¬ 
viding against them. Should your counsel¬ 
lors, throw obstacles in his way that prevent 
his using these means in his power, they make 
his wants preponderate; and thus promote 
the ruin of society ; or the subversion of the 
government; compromising in either case the 
dignity of the Sovereign. 


107 


The circumstances of every nation are sus¬ 
ceptible of being improved, or liable to be 
deteriorated. If the members of each 
social body are not secured against evil, and 
directed to their good ; their state will be 
that of a hell upon earth. 

Reason, the experience of ages, and the 
knowledge of human nature have made it 
evident that the surest way to maintain a 
Sovereign on his throne, is by making justice, 
moderation and the affection of his subjects, 
the basis of his government. 

What are the rights, what the wants 
of the citizen ? what the evils to which 
he is exposed? what the good he may 
aspire at? what method has your Ministry 
adopted to secure his rights; to supply his 
wants; to improve his means, and to screen 
your people/rom the evils that threaten them ? 

Every government ought to teach the citi¬ 
zen his duty to his Maker, to himself, to his 
fellow creatures and his country: ought to 

h 2 


108 


attend to the safety of his birth ; to the con¬ 
servation of his health, and strength; and 
their restoration when by sickness they are 
lost or impaired. Every government is bound 
to procure for its dependents, the necessary 
means of subsistence, and comfort; to pre¬ 
vent their being disturbed in the regular and 
lawful pursuits of their calling; to redress 
their wrongs ; to defend their rights; to re¬ 
ward their merits; to correct their errors; 
to facilitate their means; to support their 
esteem in their representation at foreign 
courts; to dispel their cares by proper amuse¬ 
ments ; to alleviate their miseries, to enable 
them to surmount the fatal influence of those 
evils that surround them. 

Has your Ministry, have your virtuous 
assessors endeavoured to fulfil these duties* 
which they owed to your people? Or have they 
not rather sought to dispense them from 
those obligations, which should bind them to 
your Majesty and their country? Deign 
only to ascertain this point; and with this 


109 


view to examine the system observed of re¬ 
ligion and instruction; of health, legislation 
and judiciary justice ; of prevention or police; 
of the military, economical, diplomatic, that 
of industry ; the encouraging ; the corrective ; 
that of amusement, and of the modification 
of vice necessarily accompanying every so¬ 
ciety. 

On ascertaining the facts, with respect to 
the abovementioned systems, you will most 
clearly discover what sort of men your pre¬ 
sent Ministers are ; you will feel the weight 
of all their worth ; and know the nature of 
their exertions in favour of your government, 
your people, and your Majesty in particular. 

The System of Religion. 

Sire, Religion, the sacred aegis of the 
throne; the immortal legacy and friendly 
support bequeathed to society; the sole 
means of connecting man with the Deity, 
who has bestowed it on this child of the 
earth, for the sole purpose of consoling him 
in his sufferings; of directing him in his 

h 3 


110 


wishes; of regulating him in his undertak¬ 
ings ; and of assisting him in his weakness ; 
in what light has Religion been considered by 
your actual advisers ? 

Did they seek to set forth in all its lustre 
that divine character, by which it is distin¬ 
guished ? Deign but to observe, and learn 
what they have done in this respect; which 
will appear in the method, the examples, the 
means your counsellors have employed, in 
order to instruct your subjects in its holy 
doctrines, to propagate among them its 
knowledge ; to put them in the way of relish¬ 
ing its influence; to encourage them to 
practice its maxims; and thus to maintain 
and encourage morality in your kingdom. 

As to their method of inculcating the doc¬ 
trines of religion, the duties and mysteries of 
a religion, that so loves the light, and hates 
darkness, because so declared an enemy 
to imposition of every kind, are all inculca¬ 
ted in the Latin, already a dead language, 
and not understood by those, to whom it is 


Ill 


addressed. The Almighty confounded at 
Babel, the tongues of the nations, obliging 
presumptuous mortals to desist from building 
a tower, by which they sought to oppose 
his power. Do your Ministry strive to ren¬ 
der the divine word unintelligible, in order, 
it would seem, to make its sanctity be called 
in question ; or to favour such comments 
upon it, as are most calculated to promote 
incredulity; and to compel your subjects to 
give up paying any more attention to it ? 

How have they endeavoured to put your 
subjects in the way of relishing the influence 
of a religion, in itself so sweet and comfort¬ 
ing? Is it with this intention that your 
Ministers authorize bigotry, hypocrisy, and 
fanaticism, the scourge of nations, and the 
perpetual scandal of a morality so pure, as 
that inculcated in the gospel? Was it with 
this view, perhaps, that your generals of 
Alter Eck>; that the Brigand impostors 
of 1799, addressed themselves to the clergy 
and parish priests in 1815, to consult them 
concerning the fate they ought to subject 
those to, whom they prosecuted ; and whom, 


112 


without any accusation, without even a trial, 
they resolved on condemning and punishing. 

What examples have those in office af¬ 
forded, to encourage the practice of religion’s 
maxims ? They have forced your subjects to 
sport with perjury; and have familiarized 
them with the most arbitrary caprice and 
the dictation of despotism. They made the 
Fla v ias and the Marias, the supreme 
dispensers of favours; and the fittest pro¬ 
moters of their tyrannical measures .They led 
the Brigands in triumph ; granted the high¬ 
est posts in the kingdom to assassins ; and 
persecuted the most honourable,and those the 
most attached to your Majesty ; removing 
you even from all interference in public affairs. 
They were the wretches, and they alone, 
who trusted their system of espionage to the 
management of priests and monks; inducing 
them to abuse the confidence placed in 
them by the people on account of their 
sacred character,; and thus to betray the 
secrets imparted to them in confession. They 
sent these holy spies into the state prisons, 


113 


in order to fish out there from the prisoners 
what most regarded the objects of their anti- 
christian mission, to be afterwards reported 
to those who had sent them. I myself, Sire, 
in the prison of Santa Maria Appa- 
rente, was honoured with a visit of this 
kind; though not considered as one of the 
most simple and easy to be duped. 

What are the means they have adopted to 
confirm the uprightness and virtue of your 
subjects ? Those of forcing the citizen to re¬ 
main unoccupied ; of encouraging idleness 
and wants on the one hand, and excessive 
power and prerogative on the other; and, by 
these extremes, of stirring up the basest pas¬ 
sions ; when on all occasions, every favour is 
shewn to the great, and every necessary sup¬ 
port and security is withheld from the poor! 

Your assessors dreamed even of decima¬ 
ting the army and civil functionaries; leav¬ 
ing all so displaced to languish useless and 
forgotten; of restoring the feudal system 
with regard to hereditary successions. Stan- 


114 


tibus Masculis, fgeminje non suc- 
cedunt. —Of suspending the partition of 
the national lands, of authorizing entails; 
of causing restitution to be made to all pious 
establishments, and those of main-morte, 
of their alienated possessions; in order so to 
prevent the extension or property-rights ; of 
restricting civic freehold; of neglecting to 
promote industry and national activity ; of 
taking every step contrary to the reconcili¬ 
ation of all feuds and party divisions ; of re¬ 
establishing exclusive prerogatives; oppo¬ 
sing thus an insurmountable obstacle to the 
genius and merits of your subjects ; of favour¬ 
ing too much the powerful, without suffi¬ 
ciently protecting the weak; and thus en¬ 
couraging the one party to injure and offend, 
by affording him the means of doing so ; and 
the other to have recourse to private force, in 
order to vindicate his rights, the public as¬ 
sistance being denied him, or placed beyond 
his reach.—From these facts, so obvious to 
the whole kingdom, it is very clear that your 
actual assessors had in view to authorize idle¬ 
ness, vice, and crime; wishing rather to de- 


115 


prave and destroy, than to favour and pro¬ 
mote morality. 

And how, Sire, could you for once imagine 
that your Ministers ever wished to favour 
and promote it; while observing only the pre¬ 
sent state of the tribunals and prisons ; while 
retaining your public spirit; while reflecting 
on the measures into which you have been 
dragged, and considering that their correc¬ 
tive plan is the most extravagant; their 
ameliorating contrary to the object pro¬ 
posed ; and their encouraging never acted 
upon ( 128 ) ? 

Sire, fact proves more than argument. 
Consider the number and nature of the crimes 
that have appeared, since they have been 
your counsellors; and these too at the very 
time that they induced you to become, in¬ 
stead of a statesman, the mere dupe of the 
occasion; and you will be fully convinced 
that on the score of morality, they have but 
held out the shadow to you, in order to de¬ 
coy you away from the substance ( 129 ). 


116 


Would you wish a clearer proof of a truth 
already so evident? Look at the churches. 
Observe how the worship is performed in 
them; the use and end they are applied to. 
Look at the ministers themselves of the sanc¬ 
tuary : examine their characters ; their quali¬ 
fications ; their conduct. 

You have annexed property to the 
churches; and still they are meanly kept, 
and shabby to excess. 

The priests, they who ought to be the lights 
of the temple; the chief luminaries of the 
state ; the guides and example of the people; 
chosen indifferently, without any sufficiently 
proved vocation, from all the ranks of so¬ 
ciety ; commanding but little or no respect, 
owing to the immensity of their numbers; 
unable to support themselves in a manner 
becoming their character, for want of the 
means, which their families cannot afford 
them; and which their services are unable 
to procure for them; charged besides with 
the vilest functions of an unprincipled police; 


117 


and reduced to seek resources in the family- 
intrigues, which they carry on; the priests, 
I say, instead of illustrating morality by their 
example, are a downright scandal to it; and 
the opprobrium of religion; the fomenters 
of rivalships; the author of subterfuges; and 
the main prop of all public dissentions ( 130 ). 

Had your Ministers had religion and 
morality really at heart, what could have pre¬ 
vented them from obliging the clerical tribe 
to give up all their gothic jargon; and to ce¬ 
lebrate the church-office in the language of 
the country, understood by all ? What 
hindered them from persuading you to leave 
the Vestries, and rather to inspect the Taverns 
incognito ? from reminding you that Frederic 
the Great did not think it beneath his royal 
dignity to visit the most wretched habita¬ 
tions ; in order to discover the real wants of 
liis people ; a^well as the disposition and con¬ 
duct of those highest in power, ? Why not 
have told you that Solon condemned a ma¬ 
gistrate to death for only being intoxicated; 
and not thereby prevail on you to attend in 


118 


disguise at the tribunals, and there observe 
and learn what the real conduct of your 
judges are? Why not make you punish in 
an exemplary manner those judges, who have 
been guilty of any injustice ; as well as the 
vicious and the guilty ; though merely with the 
view of making others profit by the example 
of their punishment; and of inducing the 
delinquent to better his conduct, instead of 
but irritating him the more, impelling him 
to vice, and removing him for ever from the 
paths of virtue ? The prison never made a 
man virtuous ; is a common saying in your 
kingdom. 

If your Ministers cannot imitate the system 
of China, where every man, when born, has 
assigned to him a portion of the goods of the 
sun , as they are called ; in order that nobody 
may want the means of occupation; why 
not grant at least to every one an interest in 
the landed property ? Why not class each 
in some useful branch of industry ; afford¬ 
ing incitements to activity and diligence; 
and then making you declare with Solon, 


119 


all idlers and vagabonds infamous ? Why not 
make you refuse with Caesar every public of¬ 
fice and employment to profligate libertines? 
Why not regulate the police, so as to render 
it a prevention of evil, not an incitement to 
crime ; a bond of union, not a source of dis¬ 
cord to your subjects ? And why not es¬ 
tablish moral societies, granting distinguishing 
attributes for good behaviour ; making even 
an order of such; resembling if you please 
that of ilie cross of honour ; the distribution 
of these insignia to be made in an open as¬ 
sembly, only to proved personal merit ; and 
ordaining that none but those who have 
merited this mark of distinction, need ever 
hope to hold any office in the state ? 

Who could then oppose the wise plan of 
reducing the prodigious number of priests and 
friars, that swarm all over your dominions ; 
mindful tj)at, when only twelve apostles suf¬ 
ficed to convert the whole world, your king¬ 
dom does not require millions of such for its 
conversion ? Let the ministers of worship be 
virtuous, be worthy of the sacred character 


I 


120 

which they bear ; but let them also be few ! 
Let the altar afford them sufficient means to 
live decently, that they may be under no 
necessity of meddling in the affairs of the 
world ! Let the people respect them, but let 
their conduct shew them deserving of the public 
esteem! Let the churches be always kept 
with that decency, which becomes the house 
of prayer; and the habitation of the Deity ; 
and not be made receptacles of vice, and the 
Rendezvous of libertines! 

Your Ministers made you imagine that you 
have already removed the greatest scandal 
to morality, when they persuaded you to 
abolish the Brothels. Yes, they made you pro¬ 
hibit the inspection and surveillance of these 
resorts of profligacy ; though not oppose, but 
rather favour their immoral tendency : while 
at the same time they induced you to autho¬ 
rize cheap gambling and lotteries, by way of 
an occupation for youth!!! Which of these 
two evils is the most hurtful to morals and the 
state ? The latter is sanctioned and protected 
by the law; of the former only the surveiU 


121 


lance is prohibited, while its real antidote 
is withheld ! Sire, your assessors are truly 
geniuses superior to the rest of mortals. We 
thought vice was rendered the more odious 
the more it was exposed ; or the less its na¬ 
tive deformity was concealed. The Spartans 
made their slaves the Helotes drunk, in 
order to make drunkenness be abhorred by 
their citizens. We were of opinion that did 
your Ministers see their base subterfuges, and 
wicked attempts exposed in public prints to 
the inspection of all; they would not cer¬ 
tainly be so ready to betray all their folly and 
perfidy. In London it is daily observed that 
the fear of having their conduct so exposed in 
the public journals, prevents many from com¬ 
mitting those oversights and errors, which 
are so frequently witnessed in your dominions, 
because the acts of your courts and tribunals 
are recorded no where but in their archives. 

Your Ministers induced you to declare the 
ownersof churches,monasteries, convents, and 
establishments of morte main the first pro¬ 
prietors in the state. And why so,Sire? Was 

I 


iss 

this intended as an homage paid to religion 
and morality ; or was it not in order to deaden 
all national activity ; to prevent the extension 
of possessorial right to the citizen ; to en¬ 
courage idleness and indifference for one's 
country; the real principle of crime and 
disorder ? 

If it were the earnest concern of your Minis¬ 
ters to improve the people's morals, and make 
religion be respected ; instead of augmenting 
the possessions of pious establishments, to the 
detriment of the national industry and ac¬ 
tivity, as well as good manners of the public ; 
why not recommend rather your honouring 
with marks of distinction, your promoting 
and protecting morality in your kingdom, 
by regulations similar to those made for other 
departments of the state; by general contri¬ 
butions ; by those very duties raised in the 
name of funded right and property, and 
those expended on the police ? Why not di¬ 
vide the interior of the churches into places 
more or less distinguished and honourable, to 
be taxed accordingly, as the seats and boxes 


123 


\ 


are at theatres? Why not establish certain 
differences among the burying grounds, 
leaving always a free spot for the poor to be 
laid in; and authorizing each parish priest 
to cause the agents of the police, since they 
must ever be interfering with such matters, 
to observe and report all those who do not 
attend public worship; so that they may 
have timeous warning; after which, if they 
prove refractory, that the Corresponding 
Societies for morals, should be informed of 
the case ; in order that such may not obtain 
tf eir patent for good behaviour; and conse¬ 
quently may not be allowed to hold any pub¬ 
lic situation in the kingdom. 

By some such method it would be quite 

\ 

unnecessary to annex freehold to Churches, 
to the detriment of industry and social order. 
The Ministers of the altar would then have 
always the sure means of living genteely ; the 
Churches would be kept with greater de¬ 
cency ; divine worship performed with more 
lustre; and morality promoted with surer 
success. 

x 2 


124 


On Establishments of Education. 

It is education only that softens our man¬ 
ners ; that exalts human nature; that can 
rescue the citizen from the thraldom of every 
base passion ; rendering him less liable to err ; 
less exposed to the circumventions of perfidy 
and innovation; and consequently more 
ready to avail himself of the advantages 
which government affords him ; more fit to 
distinguish and appreciate their value ; more 
capable of preserving them ; more disposed 
to assist his country, which grants them to 
him; and which binds him more strictly to 
her, as to the beneficient Divinity that imparts 
them. 

Sire, They who surround you never were 
your friends, nor those of the country : but 
of illusion, caprice and disorder. Under 
their dominion public education has lost all 
the ascendancy it had acquired while other 
Neapolitans assisted and counselled Murat. 
These indeed were more jealous of na¬ 
tional honour and the public good. Your 
actual assistants would prefer the Alcoran to 


125 


the plans of the wisest, and therefore most 
powerful nations. Initial education was estab¬ 
lished under Murat on an extensive and excel¬ 
lent footing in all the public schools of the 
kingdom. Your present advisers have com¬ 
pletely paralized it. Progressive education had 
acquired well regulated Colleges; which are 
now deprived of the means and privileges they 
had lately obtained. 

Th e facultative branch had been blest with 
the ablest teachers, and furnished with every 
incitement to learning : but it would seem as 
if under your present Ministry the Universities 
had drank of wolf’8 bane . The demonstrative 
had obtained two Academies, presided by 
persons remarkable for their learning, good 
sense, and zeal for the promotion of science; 
who were in communication with the most 
distant provinces; and that too in the most 
troublesome times. Your Counsellors, at a 
period of more than Octavian peace, seem to 
have granted the directors of these academies 
leave to go and play themselves. 

i 3 


126 


The applicative , or industrious branch, had 
already raised new manufactories, and created 
new modes of industry. The children of the 
Sebetus were already beginning to emanci¬ 
pate their country, and to leave her no more 
so slavishly dependant on the stranger for 
resources. Your Ministers grant premiums 
and compensation to whoever introduces pro¬ 
visions into the kingdom ; while they pro¬ 
hibit the extraction of all articles of con¬ 
sumption ; at the same time do they favour 
the introduction of foreign manufactures ; 
inducing you thus to put your citizens out of 
all employment; to limit so and circum¬ 
scribe the possessorial right; to neglect, and 
leave in an unfinished state all the public 
works ; to protect idleness and promote na¬ 
tional inactivity. Sire, those just now placed 
by your side are blest with talents and know¬ 
ledge above all other mortals ; and therefore 
counsel you in a manner quite incomprehen¬ 
sible to all other politicians ; or they are else 
the vilest and most stupid satellites of impos¬ 
ture ; and the true friends of their King and 


127 

their country must be those of your subjects 
who assisted Murat. 

Sire, The plan of public education, (which, 
as soon as circumstances will permit, I intend 
publishing,) adapted not less to the greatest 
empire, than to the smallest state ; the pros¬ 
pectus of which I wish here to submit to you ; 
will render it unnecessary for me, at present, 
to expose, in detail, the negligence and bad 
faith betrayed, in this branch, by your pre¬ 
sent Ministers. You yourself will discover 
both, on contemplating the actual state of 
education in your kingdom; the resources 
which this last affords to such an object; and 
the means which have hitherto been em¬ 
ployed to support and improve classical esta¬ 
blishments : nor have I here any further ob¬ 
servation to make, except that the negligence 
observed, and backwardness to promote the 
instruction of your people, must originate in 
either of the two following causes; the wish 
your Counsellors have to render all your other 
subjects, in point of character, like them¬ 
selves ; or to make it known to all that the 


128 


maxims adopted by them are those of every 
unprincipled despot— bruiify the human intel¬ 
lect; debase honour; impoverish the people^ 131 ). 

System of Public Health. 

What health-establishments has your king¬ 
dom got ? How are they managed ? What 
expedients are adopted to counteract its de¬ 
populating causes? How are its productive 
resources facilitated ? What means are em¬ 
ployed to preserve and ameliorate the species ? 

With regard to the depopulating causes; 
no attention is paid to draining the land; 
to prevent the eruption of rivers; to dry up 
the lakes and marshes ; to the washing away 
the soil by rain and inundations; and to plant¬ 
ing the heights and waste grounds. The 
fetid preparation of flax is every where al¬ 
lowed, even close to the most populous habi¬ 
tations. The public sewers are neglected. 
The accumulating of filth in the streets is not 
prohibited. There are no decent privies in 
any city for one to retire to, conveniently, 
when necessary. The burying grounds are 


129 


quite overlooked. Too little precaution is 
taken against the first principles of contagion. 
Against epidemies, so frequent in your king¬ 
dom, no efficacious measures are adopted. 
The Hospitals throughout the provinces are 
no longer in existence, or they are unattended 
to, and destitute of their most essential re¬ 
quisites; ill distributed, wretchedly inspected, 
and still worse administrated. The Laza¬ 
rettos are known only by name. The found¬ 
ling houses are little known, and any that 
exist are miserably directed. Under Murat's 
government a strict account was kept of all 
these things ; and powerful means employed 
to secure their object; but the wiseacres 
that now surround you, think them all be¬ 
neath their care. 

As to the reproductive causes; Marriages 
are but rare; while debauchery is become 
universal. Celibacy is rendered necessary. 
Priests are multiplied beyond all bounds; 
and monasteries and nunneries are endless. 
The sacrifice of so many girls,immolated to the 
most stupid of vanities, is become too frequent 


130 


and almost indispensable. The possessorial 
right of the citizen is exceedingly circum¬ 
scribed : the establishments of industry and 
occupation are extremely scarce. The rights 
of primogeniture are established to a degree 
of folly. The holders of pious foundations 
and main morte are constituted the chief 
proprietors in the state; while a vast 
proportion of the citizens are seen unem¬ 
ployed, wretched, idle, incapable of support¬ 
ing the burthens of matrimony, and rendered 
quite averse to it, on account of the too 
frequent infidelities of their partners ; and the 
little advantage they can derive from their 
offspring; which is rendered, on the contrary, 
a great drag upon them ; while they find a 
thousand and a thousand other ways of shift¬ 
ing for themselves, and of easily gratifying 
their wishes. You may here distinguish, 
Sire, what the French system had adopted of 
right or wrong on this score ; and you will at 
once perceive that your Ministry has most 
scrupulously selected all that is bad in their 
system; and has only strove to root out and 
cast away whatever good it happened to 
contain. 


13i 


As to the conservative measures; little or 
no care is taken of lying-in women. Nurses 
are thought nothing of. There are none to 
superintend parturition. In the supply of 
provisions nothing is witnessed but monopoly 
and egotism. The citizen is often forced to 
feed on spoiled meat, on unwholesome vegeta¬ 
bles, on adulterated and poisonous articles; 
and is therefore seen meagre, debilitated, un¬ 
fit to serve his country, or to labour for any 
time. Public scarcities are frequent, and for 
the most part contrived and continued by 
the monopolist. Civil economy is unknown, 
or inefficacious, or ill conducted : and the 
physical rearing of the citizen is quite over¬ 
looked. Solon perhaps was in the wrong to 
have thought that children belonged less to 
their parents than to the state. 

With such facts, that present themselves 
on all sides to every spectator; what can be 
said of the hedth-system pursued by your 
actual Ministry P Nothing surely,but that it is 
deficient in the reproductive branch ; vicious in 
the educatory ; in the subtractive unrestrained; 



132 


and in the conservative , and that for 
ameliorating the species, quite inadequate, 
nowise nutritious, and most unwholesome. 
Should your assessors dare to deny this 
truth, deign, Sire, to make them explain to 
you how the inhabitants of the very same 
kingdom, formerly so numerous, strong 
bodied and long lived, are become so few, 
so feeble, and so short lived, as they are by 
all remarked to be at present. 

If your Ministers intended not making you 
embrace a cloud for Juno ; if they really 
wished you to realize all the resources of the 
abovementioned system; to encrease thus 
the population, and better the condition of 
the state; to multiply the forces of your 
kingdom, and thus to exalt your power ; 
what could have prevented their assigning to 
each province aboard of superintendance for 
the objects connected with such a system: 
their making each circle or department vie 
with the other, in point of salutary precaution, 
by establishing in every district a committee 
of health ; in each province a deliberative 


133 


commission ; and in all the kingdom a central 
council of health ? What hindered them from 
annexing to each circle three contiguous dis¬ 
tricts, each of which to superintend the others 
in its turn; obliging the respective boards of 
superintendance to meet every month in the 
chief town of the circle ; there to combine 
together, and decide jointly on the proper 
measures to be taken for the preservation of 
the public health: and to expose in the pub¬ 
lic journals whatever is by them proposed, 
with the objections put, and the decisions 
carried by the plurality of votes ? 

/ 

Would not this have been a powerful in¬ 
citement for the other boards of superintend - 
ance : and also a means of acquainting your 
Majesty with the true state of the wants of 
each country, and those of all the kingdom ? 
After this, who would not approve of its being 
regulated, that no one should be allowed to 
determine on leading a life of celibacy, with¬ 
out first obtaining the consent to that effect 
of two boards of superintendance ; and that 
no one should make a will or disposition, 


134 


injurious to the interests of matrimony, or to 
those of the reproductive , conservative , and 
ameliorating principles. Who, with this view, 
could have opposed the plan of distinguishing 
the individual, who should have concurred 
in whole or in part, in removing the depopu¬ 
lating causes ; and in improving the produc¬ 
tive, and conservative ones ? The Romans 
granted the civic crown to him who had saved 
the life of a citizen. Why then might not 
the boards of super intendance grant corre¬ 
sponding honours to those, who strive to re¬ 
move the evils of their country ? And why 
not fine or punish those, who opposing the 
reproduction and safe preservation of society, 
should dare to mix in it ? The district com - 
mittee , might it not attend to the reclamations 
made by the different countries; and decide 
accordingly, calling th e boards af superintend’- 
ance to an account for any remissness in the 
discharge of their duty ; honouring with marks 
of special favour those circles that are well 
directed ; and making every six months the 
round of the countries within their jurisdic¬ 
tion* in order to observe how things are going 


135 


on? Who in a word, could have any objec¬ 
tion, were it ordained that the provincial com¬ 
mission should rectify the decisions of the circle 
and districts ; and should take the trouble 
once every year to inspect all the places with¬ 
in its dependence ; in order thus to ascertain 
the true state of things : the real wants of 
every one ; and to make them known ? The 
Council thus fully apprized of facts and their 
accompanying and modifying circumstances; 
might it not add thereon observations of 
the utmost importance; and enact regula¬ 
tions the most conducive to the well being 
of the people, and the prosperity of the 
kingdom ? 

Sire, Had your Ministers followed such a 
method, or any other some such analagous 
one, would they not have ascertained the 
true state of your subjects ; bettered the 
health of the citizen; augmented the public 
energy ; and -enriched your kingdom with 
new and great resources ? On comparing 
however the actual state of your dominions, 
with that given of the same countries by the 


136 


most creditable historians, in the times of the 
Brutii , Greeks and Samnites ; we are almost 
tempted to disbelieve the ancient prosperity 
of our forefathers, when we remark the im¬ 
mense difference between the numbers, 
energy and longevity of the former, and the 
paucity, weakness and short lives of the latter. 
Had your Ministers adopted some such plan 
as that alluded to, their measures would have 
produced the like effects; and you would 
have been at the same time more powerful in 
means ; at any rate more firmly established 
in your rights, and more respected by foreign 
powers, than you now are. 

The Legislative System. 

Sire, He who scarcely knows what the 
wants of the people are ; who foresees not 
the result of the citizen's pursuits ; who is in¬ 
capable of graduating the different states; 
the actual and the possible condition of the 
subjects; the obstacles to the wished for 
change ; and the efforts the people are capa¬ 
ble of making to overcome every difficulty ; 
can such an one ever make salutary laws P 


197 


- X , 

Your counsellors, Sire, for the most part 
foreigners, no favourites with Pallas , nor 
on the best of terms with Themis ; what 
laws are they capable of suggesting to you ? 
Either those of mere caprice, of blind par¬ 
tiality, or such as are inspired by the purest 
egotism; but never any calculated for the 
public weal. 

Should you wish to ascertain this point; 
deign only to remark, that under their in¬ 
fluence, your legislation seems quite a State- 
proteus, ever changing shapes, frequently 
contradictory, and always unstable and un¬ 
sure. Read only Gattfs Collection, and you 
will be convinced of the fact; which the 
constant voice of the people, and their sa¬ 
tirical effusions confirm. That Punchinello, 
paraded through all the streets of your ca¬ 
pital, with his sack of two pouches, from 
the one of which he sold on the cheapest 
terms certain orders, and from the other 
counter-orders ; may alone shew you this 
truth. 


K 


138 


If your Ministers are anxious to rectify the 
legislation of your kingdom, why not induce 
you to leave the task to somebody capable 
of performing it ? Why prevent you from 
proposing the laws of those endowed with 
the foresight necessary for such an undertak¬ 
ing? Why not trust an affair of such moment 
to the most enlightened representatives, of 
the nation; to the two houses of Parliament ? 
Why ? because your Ministers prefer those 
laws that are dictated by egotism and ca¬ 
price ; not those that are most conducive to 
the public good, and most conformable to 
reason. It is from such a praiseworthy mo¬ 
tive, that they consider it as a heresy, the 
most deserving of being anathematized, so 
much as to mention here, on such a subject, 
the Parliament and Constitution. 

Sire, It was only the Redeemer who could 
recall to life a Lazarus, four days dead, and 
already putrified. The constitution granted 
by your Majesty to Sicily, and by your Mi¬ 
nisters abolished, is just now dead and 


139 


buried. What then may induce you to call it 
up from its tomb? The knowledge that you 
have been deceived ; good sense ; your own 
personal goodness ; the example of Spain, 
whose Sovereign has been so betrayed by his 
Ministers. 


Judiciary System. 

Sire, In your kingdom how are the laws 
applied ? How are they enforced and exe¬ 
cuted ? What effects do the judgments pro¬ 
duce ? What are the means used to certify 
the facts, to redress grievances, and to dis¬ 
pense justice? Should you wish to know, 
deign but to trace the fact in principles the 
most evident. 

\ 

The more imposing the public force is, the 
more the private is diminished; and vice versa . 

The former is by as much the rnore power¬ 
ful , as it is just. 

If private force can despise and set it at 
nought , it is no longer such as it ought to be. 

k 2 


140 


The thermometer of the force of any go¬ 
vernment is the observance of the laws of the 
country ; the personal and possessorial secu¬ 
rity of the citizen, and the tranquility of the 
state. But your laws, how are they just 

i 

now observed. Like mere cobwebs, they 
serve only to entangle the weak ; and on a 
thousand occasions they are broken through 
by the strong. What is there, on which 
the citizen can ground the security of his 
person and property in the conduct of your 
Ministers, who imprison people without 
any grounds, and who set the imprisoned 
at large without any proper motive ; who 
condemn and punish persons without hearing 
their defence; who subject them to priva¬ 
tions and sufferings, without deigning to tell 
them why, or allowing the aggrieved to claim 
their natural rights, because -the injuring 
party chooses to do all their mischief under 
the glorious title of Brigands ? 

They say there are tribunals in your king¬ 
dom ; but in what manner is their access fa- 


141 


cilitated to the people ? In the following: by 
throwing in their way a thousand obstacles 
and intrigues to prevent their reaching them ; 
while so many Stat e-Cerberuses are ever on 
the watch, at the threshold of those courts, 
to scare away whoever ventures to approach 
them empty handed; by keeping thus at a dis¬ 
tance the true votaries of Themis; andobliging 
them in their own defence to invoke the furi¬ 
ous Alecto. They who apply for counsel are 
under the necessity of employing seven or 
eight different kinds of Advocates, before 
they can enter upon any law suit; Procura¬ 
tors , Agents , Solicitors , Pleaders , Patrons , 
Advocates, Assesso?'s. 

The nomination of the judges is made in 
the most occult manner, and effected through 
the channel of bribery and favour, frequently 
of the most open and avowed kind. The 
wretched therefore, and the oppressed have 
not the means of succeeding in their claims ; 
while favourites and the oppressors abound in 

k 3 


142 


shifts to carry their own point, and invali¬ 
date the rights of their weak opponents. 

What tranquillity then, in such a system; 
what observance of the laws; what transcen¬ 
dent power in the public ; what sufficient con¬ 
trol over the private, can exist in your domi¬ 
nions ? Indeed, nothing is heard of in them, 
but murders, assassinations. Robberies in all 
quarters, and in every place are witnessed, the 
known principles of anarchy and confusion. 

Had your Ministers wished to ameliorate, 
orat least direct properly the course of justice ; 
whv did thev persuade vou not to cause to be 
enforced the Judge's regular hours of attend¬ 
ance to his duty, enjoined by the Sicilian Par¬ 
liament in Palermo, and sanctioned by your 
Majesty ? Was not this the choicest expe¬ 
dient, to enable the Judges to hear and dis¬ 
criminate the facts and reasons alledged by 
the pleaders ; to whom was also thus granted 
the opportunity of freely manifesting their 
minds, and of maintaining without any un- 


143 


due opposition or intrigue ; their rightful 
claims ? This rule of attendance was neither 
acted upon at Palermo, nor introduced into 
the kingdom of Naples ; which is the reason 
why judgment is often passed on the parties, 
without, hearing their case ; or without well 
understanding their reasons and the real 
merits of the question ; while favour and par¬ 
tiality sway too much and overrule the 
decision. 

Public pleading is certainly an excellent 
way to come at the truth ; but mere moral 
criterion leaves too much at the Judge's dis¬ 
cretion ; as King Frederic’s decision : Secun¬ 
dum allegata et probata allows the guilty too 
much room to escape. The system of juries, 
on the same footing with those of the British 
constitution,was the best calculated expedient 
to unite these extremes, and the fittest means 
of remedying the deficiencies in the judiciary 
branch ; of affording security to the citizens ; 
and of doing away with all the difference ex¬ 
isting between the high and low ranks, in as 
far as their respective rights are concerned. 


144 


This sort of establishment, which is so con¬ 
trary to the views of despotism, and so de¬ 
tested by your tyrannical assessors, has been 
abolished throughout your dominions; and 
hence it is that all security of person and 
property is there found to be so compromised. 
The present Roman poet, speaking of the 
British Government, ends by affirming that 

It has Laws , which no one dares Infringe . 


Its people love above all things their laws, 
and wisli only to see them observed ; while 
their efforts are always exerted to prevent 
every abuse; A spectacle the most imposing 
and impressive! Their admired heroes and 
most popular characters, if guilty of the 
smallest breach of these laws, though sympa¬ 
thized with by all, must submit, and always 
do submit with respectful resignation, and not 
unfrequently with pleasure, to their awarded 
punishment. A meeting of 50,000 citizens 
lately took place for the purpose of exposing 
their wants to government; whom thirty dra- 
aoons were able to disperse, for the sole rea- 


145 


son that the law authorized these last to dis¬ 
perse so immense an assembly !!! And why 
should not such a people be adopted as the 
model of all those who covet true liberty ; who 
wish to secure their independence and inter¬ 
nal tranquillity; and aspire after national gran¬ 
deur ! Great Britain is truly great, because 
her laws are adapted to existing circum¬ 
stances, and to the real wants of her people; 
and these are only so, because they are dic¬ 
tated by those who are best acquainted with 
the nature, condition and character of those 
for whom they are enacted ; and because the 
public force is too imposing to allow the pri¬ 
vate to exert itself in its own cause with im¬ 
punity. Your Ministers made you abolish 
this system, which has proved of such im¬ 
mense advantage to the children of Albion ; 
and you are now afraid to trust yourself alone 
in the midst of your people ! And why, Sire ? 
Only render those just who are appointed to 
preside over them, and you will ever be se¬ 
cure ; you will thus again become the darling 
idol of the nation. To accomplish this, re¬ 
dress the system of your tribunals* Imitate 


146 


the example of the wisest nations, which grant 
always the ascendant to the public force, and 
know how to control the most secret attempts 
of the private. Examine into the mal-prac- 
tices of the magistracy with all the microsco¬ 
pic intenseness of a Solon ; who punished with 
the utmost rigour the least fault in the jud¬ 
ges. Select these by public scrutiny, attend¬ 
ing only to their requisite qualifications and 
respective deserts, as manifested in the con¬ 
course held to ascertain their merits and mo- 

« 

ral conduct. When they are chosen, let 
every one be free to notice their proceedings. 
Pay them well, and watch them better. By 
following this, or some such similar method, 
you will have upright Judges ; and the judi¬ 
ciary system will assuredly be well directed. 
The security of your people as to their per¬ 
sons and property will be established ; and 
your government will be liked by your sub¬ 
jects, and envied by foreigners. 

Preventative System of Police. 

f \ * ( r « 

The end of police is to prevent crime, to 


147 


secure order, and preserve the public weal; 
to shield both the subject and the Sovereign 
from harm; and, by perfecting the civiliza¬ 
tion and energy of the public, to secure and 
extend the glory of the nation. 

But what is that police which exists in your 
kingdom under the direction of your actual 
Ministers. They have lent an ear to anony¬ 
mous accusations. They have condemned 
without a hearing, and have subjected to 
punishment the party accused, without a pub¬ 
lic trial. They have entrusted the chief ma¬ 
nagement of their espionage system to priests 
and friars. They have arrested persons with¬ 
out any grounds, and have liberated others 
without assigning any motives whatever for 
their having done so. 

Sire, how is it possible, while attention is 
thus paid to anonymous accusations, ever to 
maintain the domestic peace of your subjects? 
How can private revenge be thus counter¬ 
acted ? How rivalry for preferment and per¬ 
sonal rancour be made to cease ; or the malig- 


148 


nant influence of envy and hatred be pre¬ 
vented from extending itself far and wide ? 
How can thus be avoided the disconcerting 
in fine and quite upsetting of the nation's wel¬ 
fare. Where, under such a system, is that 
virtue so very exalted to be found, which can 
think itself beyond the reach of calumny and 
misrepresentation? Or who is the subject, 
Who having so short and easy a way to get rid 
of his enemy, would not profit of it; but ra¬ 
ther strive to get the better of him in a less 
discreditable manner ? What family on seeing 
its head or any of its members insulted, would 
not think immediately of avengin itself by a 
method so obvious, short and secure, as the 
one thus held out to it? How, in such a state 
of things, can for any time exist that reci¬ 
procity of interests, which binds together the 
hearts of the subjects; and constitutes the 
surest, the only real defence of every govern¬ 
ment ? What citizen can thus any more de¬ 
light in society, in parties, in friendly inter¬ 
course ; and would not rather choose to se¬ 
clude, and, if possible, render himself quite 
invisible, in order to escape envy and the 


149 


snares laid for him by others ; to avoid mis¬ 
fortune ; and to withdraw himself from his 
country, rendered so unjust and dangerous to 
its children. 

. f t V 

While the accused is thus punished with¬ 
out a trial, how can the innocent guard them¬ 
selves against the secret workings of impos¬ 
tors ; or the wicked be unmasked ? How, in 
such a case can the real criminal be dis¬ 
tinguished ? What has the ruffian then to fear 
in offending, or how are the upright to be 
screened by their virtue ? In what manner is 
civil liberty and the rights of the citizen to 
be secured ? Of what use can those punish¬ 
ments be to the state, which afford no better 
example than that of arbitrary cruelty ? How, 
in such an order of things, can one's country 
be loved ; the government supported ; the 
arts attended to ; industry promoted ; mar¬ 
riages encouraged ; the population prevented 
from decreasing ; emigrations from multiply¬ 
ing, and the resources of the state from daily 
declining and withering away ? While the 


i 


150 


priests and friars are entrusted with political 
concerns, made to abuse the confessional, 
and assume the odious character of inform¬ 
ers, corrupt judges, or double dealers with 
the public ; who will ever after believe what 
they say ? Who will respect a religion, so be¬ 
trayed and discredited by its own proper Mi¬ 
nisters ? On the contrary, who will not pre¬ 
fer deceit, hypocrisy and cabals, when he 
perceives that such are the only sure means 
of acquiring and securing honours to the citi¬ 
zens ? What then has the police become un¬ 
der the management of your actual advisers ! 
The very nursery and hot bed of crimes ; the 
most powerful principle of anarchy ; the 
scourge of the citizens ; the curse and mis¬ 
fortune of yonr government; the stumbling 
block and scandal of society ; the bane of 
industry and of all the arts and sciences. It 
creates every where distrust, misanthropy 
and barbarism. It prevents all social inter¬ 
course ; ruins trade; discourages marriage; 
occasions emigrations ; foments vice and pro¬ 
fligacy ; multiplies the depopulating causes; 


151 


and mars the very object which it ought 
solely to have in view. 


Was it. Sire, to convince all Europe that the 
holy inquisition still existed in all its pristine 
vigour in your kingdom ; and that the priests 
and friars were made the arch-spies of your do¬ 
minions; that everyone not haunting the con¬ 
fessional was represented as a profane wretch 
and a notorious sinnei ? Was it for this that 
the sacred tribe were even dispatched to the 
state prisons, to take the confessions of the 
supposed guilty ? That they never failed to 
question in confession, particularly the women, 
concerning the political notions entertained 
by their husbands, brothers, fathers, &c. that 
the Commander in Chief of Calabria in 1815, 
trusted solely to the information of the priests 
concerning those, whom, without any trial he 
intended punishing ? that anonymous accusa¬ 
tions, and secret denunciations were listened 
to, for the purpose of forwarding the ambi¬ 
tious and hypocritical views of some, who 
were more apostate from, than apostles of the 
gospel? Was it to ensure success in their 


152 


measures to the wrong headed votaries of the 
most iniquitous bigotry; and to allay their 
fears lest truth and reason should ever dis¬ 
concert their projects ? Or was it to aug¬ 
ment still more and more the mighty re¬ 
sources of your assessors ; who, in their for¬ 
lorn circumstances, can only conjure up 
confusion, disturbance, groundless imprison¬ 
ments, and liberations without any ostensi¬ 
ble motive ? 

In punishing the accused without a trial, 
are not the very intentions of*the laws quite 
frustrated ? Is not the effect quite destroyed, 
which every community expects legal punish¬ 
ment to produce; the sole principle that sanc¬ 
tions the right to punish, and that can arm 
Government with the sword of Justice ? But 
what example does arbitrary punishment af¬ 
ford to the people ? That only of caprice 
and oppression. Against whom, in this case, 
is the public hatred excited P Certainly gainst 
the arbitrary inflicter of the punishment, and 
the government authorizing him to inflict it; 
not against the crime, which has never been 


153 


made known. Such punishment, therefore, 
tends only to stir up the subjects against the 
government. Your Ministers, Sire, found 
their labours long suspended and their views 
impeded by that plaguy constitution. They 
have their own wicked designs to accomplish ; 
their caprices are numerous; their wants are 
endless; and the method they have adopted 
affords them the opportunity, and presents 
them with the means, of profiting by daily 
arrests to forward the capricious views of 
favourites, to punish the innocent, for the 
guilty. 


If you wish, Sire, to abridge your reign, 
you have only to continue the present sys¬ 
tem. But all this regards only the high 
police ; what idea are we to form to our¬ 
selves next of the town and country and 
health regulations ? Your Ministers, Sire, 
have most scrupulously retained all that was 
bad in Bonaparte's system; and which the 
circumstances, under which it was adopted, 
had probably introduced. But all that was 
good for any thing in it has been as carefully 

L 


154 


rejected. His system, however, had much 
ameliorated the state of the rural, civil and 
health police in your kingdom. But your 
actual assessors have thought such objects 
far beneath their high consideration. These 
wish only to extend to the utmost the powers 
of an arbitrary police; and thus to give full 
scope to their caprice, so beneficient, so sub¬ 
lime, and so incomprehensible. 


How have they attended to the portioning 
out of the lands ; to the keeping in proper 
repair the streets, the rivers, the bridges; 
to the planting of the heights and waste 
grounds ; to the promotion of agriculture and 
industry ? What have they contributed to¬ 
wards the embellishment or convenience of 
the cities ? What means have they used con¬ 
ducive to the civilization of the people in the 
several provinces ? By what expedients have 
they endeavoured to better and preserve 
the public health, and to improve the esta¬ 
blishments belonging to that department? 
They have adopted every measure the most 
subversive of all these objects. 


155 


Sire, were you to substitute a truly judi¬ 
ciary police to the arbitrary and ruinous one 
now in force; were you to cause more at¬ 
tention to be paid in your dominions to 
the rural, civic and hygienic institutions; 
you would thus indeed mar the caprice and 
mad measures of your present counsellors; 
but you would secure for ever, and very much 
enhance your own glory, as well as the dig¬ 
nity and prosperity of the people committed 
to your care. 


Military System. 

Sire, there are excellent institutions in 
your kingdom for teaching the military and 
naval arts; and calculated to furnish the 
country with skilful commanders by sea and 
land. Annibal, however, smiled at the phi¬ 
losopher giving lessons on the art of war, with¬ 
out his having ever witnessed a battle. 


You are not ignorant of the military glory 
acquired by the ancient Greeks, Samnites 
and Brutians. You will recollect what a no¬ 
ble figure the Sicilian army made under the 

L $ 


command of its leader Tancred in Pales¬ 
tine. You have observed how much your 
commander Carraciolo made himself be ad¬ 
mired by all; how he excited the rival 
jealously of the most illustrious admirals in 
Europe; and shewed himself, not without 
reason, their formidable antagonist. You will 
also remember the figure your army cut in 
1797*when commanded by a foreigner; and 
how it behaved inl814,after so distinguishing 
itself in Spain and Poland, and in its disas¬ 
trous retreat from Russia. Would you wish to 
know the cause of so striking a difference in 
its conduct ? Deign then to learn it, and first 
to reflect, that every army chooses rather to 
light under the direction of their own fellow 
countrymen and citizens; and that yours 
then was all along commanded by foreign¬ 
ers ; and foreigners, whom it had frequently 
observed actuated by the basest passions; 
and bent on objects beyond their power to 
attain : by foreigners too, whom it had found 
incapable of managing it properly ; no ways 
interested in its welfare; and to whom, in 
consequence, it could have no attachment; 


157 


in whom it could place no confidence; and 
for whom it could harbour no esteem. Can 
an y good be expected of an army, which is 
daily insulted and ill used ; which has no¬ 
thing to hope for ; whose energy is crushed ; 
whose spirit is broken ; which is deprived of 
every incitement to valour, and of every mo¬ 
tive for relying on its chiefs ? 

Sire, you are in want of an army to defend 
your rights, and to preserve the peace and 
happiness of your subjects. But how can 
you expect the soldier to do his duty, if 
you allow him not to aspire after preferment; 
and thus engage him to prove himself me¬ 
ritorious ; if his country affords him no 
reasons for loving it, nor the enemy for 
his opposing him ? If the generals, who 
command him, have nothing in them to in¬ 
spire him wkh that degree of confidence, 
which disposes his mind to great exertions ? 
While exclusive rights to preferment exist; 
while the silly offspring of a proud nobility 
are placed at the head of the military de¬ 
partment; and the least worthy are thus 

l3 


158 


advanced, while the most deserving are al¬ 
ways kept in the rear; can your Ministry 
ever expect that the soldiers will dream of 
honour, or merit ? Three hundred Spartans 
in the pass of the Thermopylce withstood a 
million of enemies. The Romans made them¬ 
selves the lords of the universe. Your Sam- 
nites made those very Romans pass under the 
yoke. But the first were the dear objects 
of their country's love ; the second were en¬ 
couraged by the agrarian law ; and the last 
by their rivalry in merit, which gave them the 
right of choice, and a preference in love. 

Can the Neapolitan soldier love at pre¬ 
sent his country, while it subjects him to 
much trouble without allowing him any ade¬ 
quate advantage; while he is exposed to 
frequent insults, without leaving him the 
least hope of glory ; while he has to endure 
much fatigue, without any compensation; and 
is exposed to constant dangers, without any 
flattering expectations? What lands were 
ever grantedby your assessors to the soldiery ? 
Or what property are they allowed to possess ? 


159 


What advantage does the conduct of your 
Ministers yield to them ; and of what use can 
the acquisitions he to them which they strive 
to make at the expence of their lives ? By 
what means do you keep up their emulation ? 
excite their thirst for glory ? and make them 
shrink from infamy ? 

Sire, The Russian soldier was never known 
to desert; and that, because every soldier is 
a husbandman. The property he holds 

i ' 

attaches him to his Sovereign; and chains 
him to his country. 

The Lacedemonians, Athenians, Thebans, 
Macedonians, and inhabitants of the most 
renowned states in Greece ; the Romans too, 
as long as they enjoyed a portion of the 
goods of their country ; were the best sol¬ 
diers in the universe. A mere handful of 
such was sufficient to strike terror into the 
slavish millions, whom a Darius or a 
Xerxes led on against them ; and the Roman 
name alone decided the fate of battles, and 
secured victory. 


160 


The ruin of Carthage, the decay of Greece, 
and the downfal of Rome took place only 
when their respective troops had become 
mere mercenaries ; and when their country 
had ceased to hold out to them motives 
sufficiently strong to induce them to risk 
themselves for its advantage. 

Would you wish your people to interest 
themselves in your defence ? Strengthen then 
their patriotism by every means in your 
power. Find out, with that view, Ministers 
whose main interest and wish is to render 
your sway moderate and just; and who will 
prefer dividing among your soldiery the ho¬ 
nours and property of the nation, rather than 
leave them in the hands of most fantastical 
and useless possessors. 

Sire, To prevent his country’s glory from 
being eclipsed, the Briton has cheerfully 
submitted to the greatest sacrifices. And 
why? That died et mon droit, God 
and my right , which he ever, and with so 
much reason, repeats, is to him the sure 
pledge of his rights which renders so truly 


161 

\ 

dear to him his country; and so deservedly 
prompts him to defend it. Were any system 
adopted in your kingdom capable of produc¬ 
ing such an effect, there would not then be 
wanting among your subjects those who 
would think it their glory and duty to risk 
their lives, when necessary, in your defence; 
and did your reign appear of such advantage 
to your people, every other nation, instead 
of overawing you, would be found utterly 
incapable of injuring you. 

If you wish for brave armies, and real 
warriors in abundance; attend well to their 
physical comfort and moral conduct. Place 
every one in a soldier-like situation. Let your 
troops be regularly fed, and properly 
equipped. Pay them punctually : direct their 
affections to true glory ; and inspire them 
with the noblest sentiments as to social order, 
discipline, subordination, and that greatness 
of mind, which never hesitates to fly to the 
assistance of the unfortunate; but which 
scorns the insolent threats of the haughty. 
In 1797, your army was ordered to the 


162 




attack, when most of the men had been 
three days fasting !!! 

In Palermo, instead of soldiers, your troops 
were only a ragged crowd of poor starved 
w'retches ; till the British commander fed and 
clothed them. Their officers were left for 
whole years without pay or any resources 
whatever; obliged to make the most des¬ 
picable figure, if not to have recourse to the 
vilest shifts for a livelihood. And it was 
only the British Minister at last, who pitying 
the unmerited rigour of their lot, so gene¬ 
rously took upon himself to pay them. 
Could you then, Sire, have any reason to 
suppose that either soldiers or officers so 
neglected, would cheerfully sacrifice them¬ 
selves in support of a government, from whom 
they received such unworthy treatment? 
Can a truth so public, and of such impor¬ 
tance as this, be still unknown to you ? And 
were they not your actual assessors, who pro¬ 
moted all this disorganization ? And did 
they not thus endeavour to undermine your 
authority ? Were they not, and are they not 


163 


still those, who by their injustice and caprice 
destroy all the patriotism of your people, and 
all the social virtues which ever accompany it! 

Every thing is regular in the course of 
nature, and passes only gradually from one 
extreme to the other. Of effeminate and 
voluptuous citizens you expect in vain to 
form in a moment hardy and well disciplined 
soldiers : and it is clear that unless the 
country's defenders be such, they are ill able 
to support the measures of government. 
Charles the Twelfth with only eight thousand 
Swedes, destroyed an army of a hundred 
thousand Muscovites, then but novices in the 
art of war. The strength of every govern¬ 
ment is always in proportion to the number of 
its defenders, and to their aptitude for doing 
their duty. 

♦ 

Did your counsellors wish to furnish out 
for you a sufficient force, well ordered, fit to 
support the measures of their country, and 
at the same time of little or no burthen to the 
state; why do they not persuade you to adopt 


16*4 


the establishments of Charles the Ninth of 
Sweden, which made the whole country, as 
it were, a seminary of soldiers; and which 
upheld so long, in the midst of his misfor¬ 
tunes, the celebrated Charles the Twelfth? 
Napoleon was able to place Europe in the 

most formidable military attitude. With his 

%/ 

civil and provincial enlistments, and with his 
annual conscriptions, though forced under the 
circumstances of an existing war, he suc¬ 
ceeded in embodying troops sufficient to make 
head against all the forces of Europe; and 
could renew his armies in a moment, after 
enduring the most disastrous defeats. He 
for this purpose knew how to graduate the 
different states of the subjects, from the 
citizen to the soldier; he knew how to in¬ 
spire his warriors with the love of glory, and 
to engage the citizens to support national 
enterprize. His civil enlistments were made 
only from the list of proprietors ; and their 
progressive movements from the country to 
head quarters, from these to the provinces, 
and from the provinces to the frontiers of the 
kingdom, were only gradual preparations 


165 


towards the acquiring of true warlike apt¬ 
ness by the citizen ; and the rewards, honours 
and compensations in territorial domain 
which he conferred, served only to excite the 
enthusiasm, and inflame the zeal of his 
troops for the service. 

This plan, modified in some respects, might 
enable you to recruit and improve your ar¬ 
mies ; and thus greatly to extend your power. 
Your Ministers however think it were folly to 
adopt any thing good of Bonaparte's system. 
They imagine they have done enough in re¬ 
taining all that was bad in it, which pleased 
them more, and suited much better their pur¬ 
pose, namely, the spy system and arbitary 
power of the police. 

System of Economy. 

What are the resources afforded by this 
branch to your kingdom; or whence are 
they derived ? How are the burthens of the 
state proportioned to the advantages it grants 
to each of its members? With what corre¬ 
sponding exactness and regularity are the 


166 


public funds employed ? The productive 
arts quite discouraged ; the ameliorating 
impeded with endless obstacles; commerce 
obstructed, and almost entirely passive; 
what resources can these produce in such a 
state? 

Cast an eye, Sire, on the map of the com¬ 
puted territory of your kingdom ; and you 
will find that more than two thirds of it is in 
an uncultivated, waste and barren state. Ob¬ 
serve only the balance of the customs : and 
you will perceive that the imports in your 
dominions are far greater than the exports ; 
that these last consist wholly of raw materials, 
and are almost always made in foreign 
bottoms ; while the first, for the most part 
are in a manufactured state. Consider that 
all the fashions in the country, and the pomp 
of your court, are supplied with exotic com¬ 
modities, and articles of foreign manu¬ 
facture ( 133 ). 

Whence are your kingdom's resources de¬ 
rived ? From inverting and misplacing the 


167 


/ 


load laid on the horse of economy , the em¬ 
blem assigned of the Customhouse branch 
by the best known Economists. Would you 
wish a proof of this ? Consider then how 
small the public revenue is ; how destitute 
your government is of means; on which ac¬ 
count agriculture, industry and commerce 
must be checked, as they really are ; since 
the duties laid on by the state, do not weigh 
equally on the various means of the citilln ; 
since they are no ways proportioned to the 
abilities of each ; since they have no cor re- 
sponding proportion with one another; do 
not mutually support each other; are ill 
connected, ill arranged, and ill combined in 
all their parts. 

¥ 

How are these resources employed f The 
most imperious wants are quite overlooked, 
and the least urgent alone attended to ; while 
the most extravagant excess in point of ex¬ 
penditure takes place to support capricious 
and hurtful measures. Should you wish 
to be convinced of this fact; look at your 
own very decrees '•> and observe the fatal 


168 


ascendancy which the basest passions have 
thence gainedon the minds of your subj ects: 
at the same time be pleased to notice the 
political establishments of your kingdom. 
Should you wish still some stronger evidence, 
and a matter-of-fac proof of the wretched 
management in the economical branch ; 
behold such evidence and such proof in the 
suppression of the national industry ; in the 
indigence, idleness and inactivity of your 
people. Should you be desirous to ascertain 
the ignorance on this score of these same 
ministers, who assisted you formerly, and 
who at present advise you ; recollect that 
your banks failed twice in the course of ten 
years; that in Sicily you had no means of 
support, till England agreed to furnish your 
subsidies ; that though your motives for ex¬ 
pending are exceedingly diminished, still the 
load of taxes is no lighter ; while the home 
commodities have fallen in price; the value of 
money is enhanced; and public misery 
greatly encreased. If you look at the con¬ 
dition of the civil landholder, you will find 
hat those holding property in morte main are 


169 


\ 


the chief proprietors of the kingdom ; and, 
these excepted,you can observe no reciprocity 
of interest, no link of mutual support, no 
motives of encouragement among the other 
proprietors and land holders. Should you 
reflect on the principles of economy, and the 
decrees you were induced to promulgate re¬ 
specting hereditary succession, the suspension 
of the census to be made of the national 
property, enfeoffments, commerce, and the 
restitution of property to pious foundations ; 
you will plainly discover that your Ministers 
are either completely ignorant of the 
science of political economy; or a set of 
egotists the most fatally ruinous to your 
people. 

Sire, If your most high and worthy asses¬ 
sors were truly anxious to regulate properly 
all that regards the civil economy; why did 
they make you annul the constitution, al¬ 
ready introduced into Sicily ? Did they not 

* 

thereby deprive you of all those lights which 
the wisest in your kingdom, the represen¬ 
tatives of the different communities, could 

M 


170 


have lent you on the subject ? Are not these 
representatives better acquainted than any 
others with the true state of their fellow 
citizens, whom they have constantly before 
their eyes? Are they not fully aware of 
their circumstances ; do they not know to the 
very bottom, their character, wants, resour¬ 
ces, industry, together with the qualities and 
most advantageous uses, of which their own 
proper territory is susceptible ? And are not 
these therefore the most fit to activate and 
turn their means to the best possible account; 
and to take advantage of the resources, which 
the country is capable of affording you ? 

Sire, In spite of that ignis jatuus, which 
instead of pure light your actual assessors 
are constantly holding forth to you; they 
cannot deny but what England is, in point of 
political economy, the first nation in the 
Universe. Your own banks have more than 
once failed. The other European Princes 
have found themselves without the most 
necessary means to accomplish their ends; 
and were under the absolute necessity of 


171 


having recourse to Great Britain, for sub¬ 
sidies ; and this last power assisted all; 
furnished them with every thing ; completed 
at the same time in the handsomest manner 
all her own designs and engagements; and, 
after making such great and generous sacri¬ 
fices in the common cause; after being at 
such an enormous expence ; her banks have 
still augmented in credit ; and the pomp 
and splendor of her nobility and citizens is 
prodigiously enhanced ; while her means of 
supporting such, are more abundant than 
ever* From what magical fountain can such 
surprising resources proceed ? If you wish 
to know, from her House of Commons . It is 
in the debates which her Minister of the 
Exchequer has to meet there, and in the 
qualifications of the members impowered to 
lay on, investigate and direct the public ex¬ 
penditure, that the interests of her people 
and government are secured ; that her civil 
economy is sublimated or rectified ; the prin¬ 
ciples of which being thus purified and 
cleared up, produce consequences the most 
advantageous to the public; and the most 

\ m 2 


172 


conducive towards the multiplication of the 
national resources. 

Had such a system continued, as that 
which at one time was introduced into your 
dominions, what then would have happened 
to your counsellors, your actual Ministers ? 
Precisely that which happened to .di-sop's Jay ; 
they would have been thus stripped of their 
borrowed plumes, and exposed quite naked 
to the public derision. These blood suckers 
would not have been able so easily to drain 
the substance of your subjects, to be used by 
them only in supporting their iniquitous mea¬ 
sures, and in augmenting the resources of 
their vilest favourites. Had such been the 
case, they could not have so misapplied the 
system of the customs and taxes ; nor have 
promulgated on that head decrees so inimical 
to the arts, industry, the commerce and every 
public resource. The possessorial right 
would then have been extended as much as 
possible, instead of being, as it now is, re¬ 
stricted within the narrowest bounds. The 
censm on national property would have been 


V 


173 


insisted on, not prohibited. Then would 
have been for certain realized the triumph of 
Astrea , of reason, and of your glory. But 
your Ministers, these geniuses of so high an 
order, could not but think themselves affront¬ 
ed, should such vile mortals as the represen¬ 
tatives of the people be allowed to submit 
to them their vulgar common sense, and re¬ 
quest attention to be paid to their observa¬ 
tions. The very names of Parliament and 

%/ 

Constitution must work up, and not without 
reason, their overflowing bile to the highest 
pitch. 

Sire, It would seem, the mistake is yours. 
Could you ever suppose, that such sublime 
beings, creatures of so rare an order in the 
class of animals , would ever stoop so low as 
to attend to such vile objects as those regard¬ 
ing public economy ? 

The actual state of things; the progressive 
depauperization of your people ; the public 
failure and discredit of the whole nation; 
these projects, so new and extraordinary, 
proposed by your counsellors in the Sicilian 


Parliament; the measures, which in our 
opinion, so deaden and destroy the arts, and 
industry, and which are now acted upon in 
Naples ; the penury, scarcity, and monopoly, 
which accompanied you thither on your re¬ 
turn to your capital, and made its inhabitants 
consider your aspect as that of a petrifying 
political Medusa , capable of turning to rock 
the richest and most fertile of soils, and 
making its wealthiest productions all vanish 
in a moment; all this, Sire, are only the con¬ 
sequences of what was brought to pass at the 
time that the soaring minds of your actual 
counsellors were wheeling their course along 
the empty space ; and hatching on the Scor¬ 
pion , their high and mysterious police; or 
while descending to the darkest regions of 
Erebus , they were settling with the Furies the 
period of the return of these to earth. To 
avoid all further mistakes, by committing the 
management of such lowly concerns to those 
who will not be ashamed of the office ; and 
without disturbing these lofty geniuses in 
their sublime occupations; leave them, Sire, 
in the company more congenial to them, of 


175 


Atis, Tisiphone and Alecto; and find out in 
their stead from among your subjects, persons 
more studious of economy ; not such gloomy 
ruffians, from whose measures no future good 
is to be looked for; and, on your discovering 
such, be pleased to remind those, whom you 
have chosen, that pious establishments should 
have nothing more to do with temporal power 
of anjr kind ; but must wholly depend on the 
discharge of religious duties for their sub¬ 
sistence ; and that only in as far as their dis¬ 
charge of such is conducive to morality, and 
nowise promotive of vice. The Angels, the 
Saints, and the souls of the blest, were never 
known to descend on earth to till the grounds; 
nor do they need to busy themselves in such 
worldly concerns, in order to dispel the 
tcedium of idleness, or to divert them from 
evil. Such labours are only those of poor 
sinful mortals ; and they must be quite neg¬ 
lected and marred in your kingdom, if 
estates are thus annexed and consecrated to 
churches, and the citizen thereby deprived 
of the means and motives of exerting his in¬ 
dustry. Deign also to remind your new chosen 


176 


economists, that though they may not be able 
in the present circumstances to enact the 
Roman agrarian law, nor to adopt the Chinese 
system of portioning out among all the goods 
of the Sun; they can doubtless very much 
extend the census of the national domain; 
and oblige the Barons, either to see cultivat¬ 
ed the large tracts of land which they hold ; 
or, (what would be for their own proper ad¬ 
vantage,) in order to secure the produce, to 
let out their lands to others, who have none 
of their own. When any one in Spain, holding 
enfeoffments, leaves for two successive years 
in a waste state grounds, which had formerly 
been under tillage or culture; the first who 
plants a vine branch in them, and thus 
shews his readiness to turn them into use, 
may claim them for the future as his own. 
A system so well calculated as this to pro¬ 
mote agriculture and excite to labour, would 
be an expedient well worth your adopting 
in your kingdom; companies too might be 
established in every province for the purpose 
of combining the joint efforts of your sub¬ 
jects, and ol thus multiplying the resources 


177 


of your government. Such companies could 
then determine oil the means of supplying 
the people's wants in times of scarcity ; of 
facilitating and ameliorating the method of 
labour; they might occupy themselves 
usefully in enforcing the laws of recipro¬ 
cal engagements between the chief proprie¬ 
tors and the tenantry ; in representing to the 
economical society whatever may be wanting 
for the promotion of commerce in their pro¬ 
per department; with the method and means 
of supplying these in the quickest manner 
possible ; and in fine they might attend to 
mechanical instruction; to the merits of those 
who distinguish themselves in it ; to the for¬ 
warding of learners to the best cultivated 
provinces, in order there to acquire more 
readily a proper knowledge of it; and to the 
system of laying on duties in the manner the 
most advantageous, the least troublesome; 
and the most expeditious in recovering the 
amount. 

Diplomatic System. 

Sire, Bacon Lord Verulam, and before 
his time, your own Bernardin Telesio assure 




178 


us that the best way to discover truth, is to 
look for the cause in its effects. Newton was 
able by this method to penetrate into the 
most hidden secrets of nature ; and to con¬ 
template her unveiled, and face to face. 
Would you wish to know by the same me¬ 
thod the efficiency of the diplomatic system, 
adopted by your actual Ministry to represent 
your Majesty at foreign courts? Observe it 
in the negotiations that took place when 
these said Ministers happened to be your ad¬ 
visers. What a figure did you make, Sire, 
in your late coalition with France, England, 
and Russia ? What sort of character did your 
government then betray ? What objects had 
it in view ? What were the results it brought 
about ? Let me rather, Sire, pass over this 
article in silence. 

Diplomacy, the art of all others, the most 

essentially requisite to every nation, how is it 

managed and established by your present 

counsellors? Rv what means is the na- 

tional representation supported and im- 
? 



179 


Sire, unless in your dominions the case of 
a Solomon should become quite common, 
and the prodigy be repeated of supernatural 
wisdom infused ; it were absolutely impossi¬ 
ble for us ever to comprehend whence your 
diplomatists can derive the skill of setting 
forth to advantage, the favourable circum¬ 
stances of your people, and of keeping out 
of sight their less favourable ones; in order 
thus to make them be respected, and even 
dreaded by the stranger. In your kingdom 
there are no institutions for this necessary 
branch of knowledge. Those chosen to re¬ 
present you, are very often so, without dream¬ 
ing or having ever dreamed of the business; 
without having any liking to it; and without 
having endeavoured to acquire the knowledge 
necessary for the proper discharge of the 
duty, which they are all at once chosen to 
perform. They never have visited foreign 
courts. They are unacquainted with the 
connections, the resources, the defects of 
such; on which account they become, and 
that not unfrequently, the laughing stocks and 
game of those with whom they enter upon 


\ 


180 




state affairs, manage treaties, and keep up a 
correspondence. 

Sire, an art so essentially necessary to every 
government, on which the rise and fall of states 
and empires so much depends, requires without 
doubt the most adequate theory, and the ex- 
actest practice to ensure success in its object. 
Your actual Ministers have paid very little at¬ 
tention to either. They might, if they had 
pleased, have established societes ; appointed 
circles ; and made diplomatic competitions be 
held for that purpose. They might well 
graduate the difference of merit; and choose 
the ablest individuals from every class of 
society; annulling for ever the exclusive 
rights and privileges, and regulating their 
choice by public competition; acknowledg¬ 
ing for merit only that which is proved to be 
such by substantial facts ; by eminent ser¬ 
vices rendered to the public; by moral qualifi¬ 
cations well authenticated ; by talents and 
capacity acknowledged superior on account 
of their public and undeniable achievements. 
These might also ordain that no diplomatist 


\ 


181 


could be made all at once a chief representa¬ 
tive in any place, without having first served 
in an inferior capacity, and for a given time, 
in three different cabinets; and after all this, 
it might very well be settled that the whole 
expence attending the national representation, 
should always be defrayed by the nation at 
large. 

System of Encouragement. 

How is merit at present encouraged in 
your kingdom ; and the citizens stimulated 
to virtue ? Is it by exclusive rights ? By the 
exaltation of the stupid ; of strangers; of the 
perfidious ? By making the most virtuous, 
wise and worthy of your subjects serve only 
as footstools to such ambitious wretches P By 
degrading those, whom you had promised to 
remunerate, the friends of the British army 
in Sicily ? By persecuting all those others, 
who had acquired the esteem of the public; 
and then favouring the brigands and assassins. 

The most eminent in the arts and sciences 
were those who disliked most your govern- 


182 


merit in 1799* since they were the worst 
treated by your Ministry. Virtue, therefore, 
was then injured and oppressed. 

At present this same Ministry persecutes 
all those, who cannot adapt themselves to its 
stupidity, bad faith and perfidity. It dis¬ 
misses therefore from their situations the most 
worthy and virtuous individuals ; and sub¬ 
stitutes in their stead the most incapable, and 
often the most iniquitous ones. 

Is merit then in your kingdom transmitted 
to every one from the cradle ; and wisdom 
acquired only by inspiration ? for the former 
is no more gained by magnanimous enter¬ 
prises, nor the latter by study and experi¬ 
ence ? Can vice then have always motives to 
hope; and must virtue, henceforth, drop all 
her pretensions ? Are the virtuous, the wor¬ 
thy, the enlightened citizens, to be consi¬ 
dered now and for the future as quite useless 
and superfluous in the land of the Syrens ? 
Or is it only intended that the people should 
in all respects be made to resemble your Mi- 


183 


nisters ? There is no farther need then of good 
agriculturists, of skilful artificers, of learned 
men, of experienced traders, of virtuous sub¬ 
jects, of an imposing national representation, 
of sure domestic quiet and public security ? 

Sire, Were the national honours reserved, 
and the chief posts granted only to real worth; 
what a different aspect would not your king¬ 
dom wear ? But can the prosperity of your 
people be ever combined with the views of the 
perfidious ; with the despotic measures of . 
your Ministers? But could their insignifi¬ 
cance ever brook the merit of others ? Could 
they suffer to see their own pomp eclipsed; to 
find their caprices checked, and their villa- 
nies unmasked ? 

Would you wish, Sire, to encourage merit, 
and to allow precedence to virtue ? Destroy 
the causes of the evil; drive from your pre¬ 
sence the patrons of guilt and of every base 
passion. Dismiss your actual Ministry. In¬ 
troduce competition for morals and merit; 


184 


and favour in every sense the societies of 
encouragement. 

System of Correction. 

How do you ward off vice ? How do you 
improve the manners of your people ? How do 
you reclaim from their errors those who have 
happened to go astray ? Is it by the exam¬ 
ple of villainy favoured, and of merit scorned 
and rejected ; is it by means the least calcu¬ 
lated to preserve your subjects from idleness; 
by principles that compel them to break 
through every fence of the laws ; to prostitute 
their morals, and set up their honour for sale. 

9 * * ‘ ( " ' '| - ' 

- .#«v * •» • “ V ** * • *• ,«. 4 

You have got prisons in abundance, you 
support many places of punishment , and num¬ 
berless houses of correction. You hear a 
great deal said about large establishments 
for the condemned. Why all this dismal ap¬ 
paratus ; which ought to be a reproach to 
the sybaritical mode of loving of your asses¬ 
sors. But they, too far removed from such 
establishments, assure you that such are 


185 


necessary, in order to bring about the reform¬ 
ation of the prisoners. Let them condescend 
then to explain to you the benefit to be de¬ 
rived from the example of innocence pu¬ 
nished, and guilt absolved ? Or how the re¬ 
formation of the prisoners can be effected, 
by tormenting and oppressing the subject, 
and preventing his amendment by adding 
daily more and more to his galling vexations ? 

Sire,Take a turn through your prisons, and 
you will there find numberless unfortunate 
victims pent up in the most gloomy recesses, 
from six to seven, eight,nine, and ten years of 
age,who know not even why they are thus con¬ 
fined ;and who having asked in vain a thousand 
and a thousand times to be heard and judged ; 
find their request only listened to by the ma¬ 
gistrate with disdainful silence ; while from 
other quarters they learn that they have 
powerful enemies, who cause their detention 
to be thus indefinitely protracted. Observe, 
still further, and you will discover mur¬ 
derers and public assassins blended with the 

N 


186 


innocent victims of arbitrary caprice; who 
knowing that their lives are forfeited, were 
they brought to trial, succeed with the money 
they have robbed in bribing a delay, and 
getting their cause postponed ; till one of 
the many pardons granted by your Ma¬ 
jesty, is secured to them ; which favours are 
often extended to such outlaws, but never to 
the injured and oppressed victims of tyranny. 

Consider the extortions, the arbitrary con¬ 
duct, the cruelty and partiality of the jailers. 
Contemplate the method used for reforming 
the conduct of the imprisoned. Here one is 
seen despairing ; there another insulting his 
his fellow prisoners ; on one side there is no¬ 
thing but drinking and swearing; on the 
other but plotting, pilfering, and bastina- 
ding ; but quarrelling,gambling and disorder ; 
and in all quarters but horror and confusion. 
And is it by a system so irritative, and con¬ 
vulsive that one would wish to quell and calm 
the violent passions, which were and ever are 
the cause of man's plunging into error, vice 
and crime ? 


187 


Did your counsellors, Sire, in allowing 
such excesses to exist, wish to reform,or to de¬ 
prave the citizen? Could they have intended 
their prisoners for the scandal or the edifica¬ 
tion of the state ? Your present Ministers are 
not ignorant of the common saying, which 
they have heard repeated a thousand times ; 
The prison never makes a man better: that is to 
say, in your kingdom . They notwithstanding 
dare to tell you that prisons are necessary for 
the reformation of delinquents. 

The prisons, Sire, would certainly be for 
the advantage of the state and the people, 
were they destined only for your Ministers; 
and the unworthy assessors, who at present 
so mislead you. Then would they truly fur¬ 
nish an example the most edifying to your 
other subjects; and prove the most condu¬ 
cive means of removing from them every mo¬ 
tive of scandal ? 

Your Ministers, were they truly desirous 
of improving the morals of the public, and 
of bettering the lot of prisoners and persons 

n 2 


188 


requiring correction) ought rather to begin 
by perfecting the police, and the judiciary 
system of the kingdom ; they ought in the 
next place to cause the accusers as well ss 
the accused to be considered as equally sus¬ 
pected of guilt, till such time as the cause is 
determined ; they should in the third place 
make the causes to be tried with as little de¬ 
lay as possible; attending to the proofs and 
appeals of the parties; and allowing to be 
mentioned in the public journals every judi¬ 
ciary proceeding with the facts, the circum¬ 
stances and the nature of the sentences passed 
accordingly. They should then ordain that 
with regard to those proved guilty of misde¬ 
meanor and vice, the prison-system of Phi¬ 
ladelphia should be imitated ; a system which 
truly does honour to the friend of his country 
and philanthropist who invented it; which 
has always been attended with the most wish- 
ed-for success ; and which is so well described 
by Rochefauchaud. In the prisons of that 
country, Sire, the guilty enter as devils, but 
came out of them like angels. Nor does he 
ever return to them again, who has once been 


189 


liberated. Into your prisons, however, the 
virtuous often enter, to become perfect devils; 
and are induced on quitting them to avenge 
by private force the wrongs against which the 
public could not screen them. But w r hat a 
difference between such foreign prisons, and 
the establishments for punishment or correc¬ 
tion, which exist in your kingdom ; particu¬ 
larly those instituted by Art ales for the 
punishment of the supposed felons, who were 
all afterwards acknowledged innocent. The 
circumstance filled Major General Forbes 
with horror; and induced him to interest 
himself in behalf of oppressed humanity. 

9 

Sire, The silence enjoined, and reflection on 
the crimes committed ; the difference of food 
prescribed; the prohibition of all intoxicating 
liquors ; the prevention of all insult and pro¬ 
vocation; the relief afforded in suffering; the 
obligation to work, in order to prevent idle¬ 
ness ; the shortening or lengthening of the 
period of chastisement, or the augmenting 
or lessening its rigour and intensity, in pro¬ 
portion to the amendment or depravity of 
the prisoners ; are the surest means of reform* 


190 


mg the conduct of the criminals ; while the 
sure produce of their labour exempts the state 
from all expense in supporting them, and in 
affording them, on their liberation, some 
resources, lest their new wants should im¬ 
pel them to commit new misdemeanors 
and crimes; and force them to return 
once more to their wicked and dangerous 
courses. 

System of Occupation, or Industry. 

This is the real Oromazzes of governments ; 
the true benefic principle of the people's wel¬ 
fare ; and the sure antidote of those evils, 
which necessarily attend on every society ; 
while inactivity proves the stumbling-block 
of crowned heads, and the slow poison of 
states in proportion as the citizen's industry 
is impeded. Politicians agree, and good 
sense demonstrates, that the resources moral, 
economical, and civil, of governments, are 
always in direct proportion with the national 
activity. Idleness, the nurse of the most 
dangerous passions, by multiplying our 
wants, darkening our reason, and exalting 
error and caprice, effects the gradual down- 


J 91 

fall of every Sovereignty ; and may justly he 
called the Arimenes of the nations, and the 
evil genius of princes. 

Solon noted all vagabonds with infamy. 
Lycnrgas considered them as the pests of 
society. Ca3sar accounted them dangerous 
to the country. Even Napoleon's chief ob¬ 
ject was to diminish idleness. Your sacred 
assessors think of nothing but of throwing ob¬ 
stacles every where in the way of industry : 
and the restricting of possessorial right, the 
confirming of exclusive privileges, the deci¬ 
mating of the army, the restricting of civil 
employments, the confiding of the highest 
situations in the kingdom to foreigners, de¬ 
frauding thus the citizens of their natural 
rights of preference, as well as the new de¬ 
crees regarding commerce, the abominable 
partition of lands and national property, the 
consequent paralization of industry, and the 
whole actual state of the kingdom, are evi¬ 
dent proofs of the fact I assert, and of 
the truly exalted intentions of those who 
counsel you at present. 


192 


Intentions so ill-omened, facts of this na¬ 
ture, what consequences are they likely to 
produce ? quite contrary ones to those which 
the measures of a Lycurgus, a Solon, and a 
Caesar produced in Greece and Rome ; and to 
those which Bonaparte made appear in Italy 
and France after the Census made by him of 
the national domains. 

Sire, If idleness be the real cause of phy¬ 
sical, moral, and political evil; and if your 
ministers favour idleness, and oppose national 
activity ; the consequent depravation of your 
subjects, the decay of their energy, their in¬ 
difference for their country, and their fond¬ 
ness for innovation and disorder, to what 
are they to be ascribed, if not to the most 
obvious stupidity, the most notorious perfidy 
of your actual advisers ? These alone, reason 
and good sense might point out to you as 
guilty oflese Majesty against God and man. 

If idleness is the source of every vice, which 
of the two befriends morals the most, and 
is the most anxious to render your subjects 


193 


religious and virtuous ? the promoter of in¬ 
dustry, or the patron of laziness ? Lycurgus, 
Solon, Caesar, and the now anathematized 
Bonaparte ; or the rueful bigots who just 
now besiege you, and persuade you to build 
churches, and endow monasteries ; making 
you act the part of a mean vestry-clerk ; but 
at the same time causing you to throw insur¬ 
mountable obstacles in the way of public 
industry P These are they,' Sire, who would 
persuade you to trample upon the commands 
of the Deity, and the dictates of reason; 
and this only, that they themselves may 
appear and be incensed as the chief idols of 
the state. 

If the chief resources of government rest 
on the industry of the community, who ren¬ 
dered your’s formerly so impotent in this 
respect, and so beggarly in its representa¬ 
tives? Who reduced you to such straitened 
circumstances, and obliged you to make the 
most humiliating figure ? Those doubtless, 
who had previously relaxed all the energy, 


194 


and undermined the patriotism of your sub¬ 
jects, your present most unworthy assessors. 

If from the inactivity of the citizens every 
evil is derived, and if the welfare of nations 
depends on the produce of the people's in¬ 
dustry ; what were that system, the most 
conducive to the prosperity of your subjects ? 
That of making it be clearly understood by 
every one that he has no other resource to de¬ 
pend upon , but the fruit of his own labour and 
personal merit: and that he can have little or 
nothing to hope for from the meritorious exer¬ 
tions of others ; from his own intrigues ; from 
the favours of chance , or from idleness and 
effeminacy . Your present Ministry has how¬ 
ever found out a nobler way of securing to 
every citizen resources of every description ; 
cheap-gambling , to wit; assassination; dis¬ 
order ; the patronage and special favours of 
the Lady Flavias and the Lady Marias ; 
bigotry, hypocrisy and prostitution. These 
are the means, Sire, by which your assessors 
have so successfully obtained the good will, 


195 


and secured the welfare of your subjects. 
Agriculture, the arts, commerce, and in¬ 
dustry are deemed perhaps a dishonour to the 
state; and are therefore opposed or super¬ 
seded. You have remarked the flourishing 
state of Greece; the grandeur of Rome; the 
virtue of the Samnites ; the glory of the 
Brutians ; the great power of Napoleon; his 
capacity of rendering himself the soul of as¬ 
sociations ; and of bringing over so many 
states to his system ; and you see at the 
same time the state of depression and misery, 
in which your kingdom just now finds itself 
placed. From what cause can so great a dif¬ 
ference proceed? From the great difference 
of the principles adopted for favouring in¬ 
dustry, and preventing indolence. This be¬ 
ing the case, what motive could ever have 
induced you to decimate your own army, 
and call in foreigners to assist you ? To di¬ 
minish the number of civil employments; to 
put obstacles to labour; to authorise gam¬ 
bling, as a pastime for youth ? Sire, Colbert 
and Sully borrowed money, to be employed 
in promoting the industry of their country. 


196 


Napoleon made the people fond of his go¬ 
vernment, by multiplying the employments ; 
by making the taxes lie heaviest on the rich 
possessor, and obliging the subject to find 
employment. Unless you multiply employ¬ 
ments in the state; unless you oblige the 
citizen to work, rendering it quite indispen- 
sible for him to do so, and making him ab¬ 
hor indolence; unless you do all you can to 
multiply the means of supporting such em¬ 
ployments, and, if necessary for that pur¬ 
pose, unless you even burthen your subjects 
with new taxes, engaging them , with this 
view , to support establishments of industry , 
and real effective occupations in your kingdom; 
you will never find yourself sufficiently strong 
or secure. Be well assured, that unless the 
public resources are kept in a perpetual flux 
and reflux, instead of proving beneficial, they 
will become hurtful to your government. 
Emigration or employment is indispensibly 
necessary to Europe. Revolt will always be 
found where neither of these takes place. 
The days of barbarism are over; the people 
are become sharp-sighted ; their enthusiasm 


197 


is raised. The liberty of the press exists in 
many kingdoms. It were a fatal mistake to 
imagine that Europe is as tame as ever to the 
yoke of slavery. The wishes and wants, Sire, 
of the subject are not more to be thwarted 
with impunity. Think well on these truths. 
The original cause of Napoleon^ overthrow 
was his system of violently thwarting the 
habits, become a second nature, of the ci¬ 
tizens, and which had changed their imagi¬ 
nary to real wants. The Sugar and Coffee 
War brought the most desolating calamities 
on his empire. What then will be your case, 
what will their's be, who think of opposing 
the call of nature, the wishes of the people, 
and the urgent circumstances of the nations. 


The Modifying System. 

Sire, whichever way you turn your eyes, 
you will find a mixture of good and evil. 
Remember that almost all nations and all 
philosophers have thought this universe ruled 
by two opposite powers. The Oromazzes and 
the Arimenes of the Persians; the good and 


I 


198 

evil deities of the Romans ; the etherial and 
material principles of Plato; the contrary 
propensities in man; the God of lignt. and 
the prince of darkness of the Christians ; 
all these serve only to confirm this opinion ; 
and most evidently demonstrate the fact that 
every community and every government con¬ 
tains, in itself, evils altogether unavoidable, 
as being inherent in human nature itae f 
Scandals must necessarily take place. Vitia 
donee homines . While man exists, vice must 
exist, is the opinion of the great politician 
Tacitus. And the experience of ages assures 
us that while communities have their vices, 
they will have their evils attending them also. 

These vices are the malefic deities, to whom 
the prince of Latin orators bids us frequently 
strew corn ; not in the hopes of thus render¬ 
ing them benefic; but to prevent their doing 
us all the harm they might. Sacrijicandum 
malts Diis , ut minus noceant. Should these, 
instead of being soothed and mitigated, be 
openly assailed and irritated ; their influence 
would thus be only rendered more hurtful 


199 


to society, and to every government. Mis¬ 
deeds are the real effects of the base passions ; 
and these are the daughters of delusion. 
Every vice is therefore the more apt to 
gain ground, the more it is veiled from the 
public view ; and the more it is abhorred, 
the more it is exposed in all its native de¬ 
formity. Seneca held out his mirror to the 
enraged, to shew them how rage disfigures 
and renders men hideous ; and to engage 
them by this exposure to avoid being agitat¬ 
ed by such a passion. The Lacedemonians 
used to make the Helotes drunk, to shew their 
fellow citizens the disgusting effects of drunk¬ 
enness ; and thus to guard them against it. 
Ovid, in accounting for the rape of Helen, 
ascribes it entirely to the idleness of Paris. 
In promptu causa est , desidiosus erat . The 
wisest legislators have therefore imagined 
that the best way to preserve the citizens from 
libertinism was to keep them always occupied ; 
or, at least, to divert their minds with inno¬ 
cent and useful pastimes. With this view 
the most polished nations instituted many 
public festivals, athletic amusements, thea- 


zoo 


trical exhibitions; and numberless other 
modes of diversion and exercise for the 
people. 

Sire, from these principles and facts it 
would seem evident that in order to reduce 
the influence of political evils, the best expe¬ 
dient is that of always keeping the citizen as 
much employed as possible ; of diverting and 
withdrawing him from such influence with 
pastimes the most innocent, moral, and use¬ 
ful that can be invented; of holding vice 
forth to him as most opprobrious and degrad¬ 
ing ; and its haunts as shameful and infa¬ 
mous in proportion as they are public and no¬ 
torious. 

Sire, if such principles are well grounded, 
how will your advisers be able to justify their 
counsels, and the decrees which they have 
persuaded you to enact? 

Among the political evils, brothels, gam¬ 
bling, and excess in eating and drinking hold 
the first place. 


201 


You have prohibited brothels, as being a 
nuisance in the state. You have authorized 
cheap gambling, as an amusement for the 
people! And you have quite overlooked 
gluttony and drunkenness. 

Sire, you very well know, that in the 
aforesaid establishments, the persons there 
employed were subjected to regulations the 
most revolting to their feelings, the most 
annoying, degrading, and the best calcu¬ 
lated to reclaim them from so disgraceful a 
profession ; as well as to prevent crime, and 
to preserve the health of those who happened 
to visit them. 

You have abolished all such establish¬ 
ments; but what is it that you have abo¬ 
lished on this occasion P The mere acts of the 
subjects therein employed, or the restrictive 
obligations to which they were subjected ? 
The acts of these subjects ? Then you 
must have given them a new sort of 
education, other occupations, and dif¬ 
ferent means of subsistence. You must have 
#• 

o 


I 


202 


found out some new way of satisfying the 
natural wants of the citizen. If you have 
not done this, and yet wished to abolish the 
above-mentioned operations, you must have 
surely intended to root out the very nature 
of your people, or to stifle men's passions 
by irritating and exciting them. 

Have you found out any new way of satis¬ 
fying the natural wants of the citizen ? You 
must then have encouraged matrimony, and 
destroyed the principle of debauchery. Let 
us see then how far this has been attended to 
in your kingdom. 

Among your Grandees only the first-born 
can marry. The second, third, fourth and 
fifth-born have it not in their power to do so. 
These serve only to enhance the family pomp; 
and to add to the triumph of vice. The first¬ 
born marry, but only for ceremony, and not 
from choice or inclination. Their marriages 
are settled on by strangers, not by the con¬ 
tracting parties themselves. Couples of this 
description are frequently seen going to the 


203 


altar, without any previous acquaintance ; 
without having ever seen each other, or so 
much as spoken together; and more like 
victims going to be immolated to the foolish 
pride of their parents, than like lovers 
brought together to realize the pledge of 
mutual free affection. These noble unfor¬ 
tunates find themselves frequently caught in 
Hymen's net, while their hearts remain cap¬ 
tivated with other objects, than those so 
forced upon them ; though they must submit 
without, remonstrance to the consequences of 
that fate, which did not originate in them¬ 
selves ; the fatal influence of which they have 
it not in their power to destroy or diminish. 
From such fatal fashionable folly it necessa¬ 
rily follows that such married couples are 
either induced immediately to return to the 
former objects of their affection, from which 
they had been torn, to look out for some 
new ones in their stead; the lady to find 
her gentlemen attendants, the real etiquette 
husbands for the love-stricken fair. Hence 
these, constantly surrounded with a troop 
of gallanting Ganymedes, are thus seen openly 

o 2 


204 


I 


carrying profligacy in triumph ; while the 
husbands, on their part, always in the com¬ 
pany of other ladies, distinguish themselves 
only as the worshippers of vice. Hence in 
this country the too frequent examples of 
conjugal indifference, disgust, separation and 
divorce among married couples of this de¬ 
scription. Hence also are occasioned the 
many clandestine marriages, which take place 
all over the kingdom. 


i 


Celibacy is then the real inheritance of 
the second, third, fourth and fifth born, &c., 
of the great; whose sole resource is therefore 
debauchery: which evil originates in the 
arrangements made by their progenitors ; and 
according to which they are considered only 
as mere family parasites : in the family pride, 
which subjects them to its anathema, should 
they dare to marry any woman, that could 
not, like themselves, exhibit a long smoaky- 
faced train of pictured ancestry; and in the cir¬ 
cumstance that neither their own education 
fits them, nor does the government afford them 
the means or opportunity to support the lus- 


\ 


£05 

tre of their houses in high situations, attain¬ 
able only by virtue and merit. 

A great many, and indeed the far greatest 
proportion of the citizens, are forced to lead 
a single life, because they are too poor, and 
therefore unable to support the weighty du-' 
ties of the married state ; because they have 
not the means of maintaining families, which, 
if married, they must find ; and because 
it is not in their power to get any employ¬ 
ment, or any sure sale for the product of 
their labours. 

You have then, Sire, abolished brothels, and 
yet have established anticonjugal principles ! 
You have abolished them, and vet have thus 
encouraged debauchery ; when you granted 
the best employments in the state to foreign¬ 
ers, and obliged your citizens to become beg¬ 
gars and vagabonds; when you decimated the 
army, diminished the civil employments, 
neglected to favour the arts, and left your 
people a prey to indolence and inactivity ! 
While the private contract for improper con- 

o 3 


206 


nexion between persons of a different sex was to¬ 
lerated ? While the favour of the Lady Flavias , 
and the purchased patronage of the Lady 
Marias , were the only means your subjects 
had of getting employment, exalting them¬ 
selves, and obtaining honours in the state ; 
while so many miscreants were raised to the 
first posts in the kingdom, while the worthy 
were depressed, and the meritorious exiled ! 
When assassins were favoured, and the in¬ 
jured not allowed to claim indemnification 
for their losses sustained ! When perjury was 
authorized ! and when. 

But, Sire, under such circumstances, and 
according to the aforesaid principles, every 
one is well aware that your decree went only 
so far as to abolish the obligatory restrictions, 
to which the Cyprian tribe was subjected ; 
but not to put a stop to their practices. 
Their profession was thereby rendered less 
infamous, less difficult to be followed, more 
dangerous to the state and hurtful to your 
people. If you wish to see this demonstrated 
by facts, deign only to observe the following. 



207 


After the abolition of the brothels, the haunts 
of infamy were encreased in number, instead 
of being diminished. They escaped the notice 
of government, but not that of youth. 
Their prohibition excited more than ever 
loose desire in the minds of the profligate, 
and caused the virtuous part of the sex to 
be overlooked or neglected. 

Previous to your decree the physicians had 
almost succeeded in extinguishing the conta¬ 
gious evil attendant on such wicked courses. 
Complaints of infidelity were no longer heard 
of in your tribunals. Delinquents could never 
think themselves secure under such establish¬ 
ments. The profligate even felt some re¬ 
morse in frequenting them ; and the females 
belonging to them were often deterred from 
pursuing such a line of conduct, by the de¬ 
grading restrictions, to which their pro¬ 
fession subjected them. 

Now infected persons are every where to 
be met with. The complaints of parents and 
married persons are endless. Domestic broils 


208 


are greatly encreased. The haunts of profli¬ 
gacy are rendered more respectable, or less 
disgraceful in the eyes of those who frequent 
them ; and they afford at all moments an 
open and easy access to crime and subterfuge. 

Sire, whoever induced you to promulgate 
such a decree, must have felt a particular in¬ 
terest in behalf of the fair sex ; and must 
palm upon you, from such motives, his false 
lights for true ones. Should you really wish 
to stop the fatal influence of so great an 
evil, behold how it is to be done. Facilitate the 
means of marriage. Take away all the obsta¬ 
cles that hinder it, and whatever does not tend 
to render it happy. Let all be done to make 
the parties truly fond of each other, so that 
they may not treat each other with indiffer¬ 
ence, but may themselves consult their own 
hearts on the subject, and not their interest 
and the pride of their parents. 

Keep the citizen as much as possible occu¬ 
pied, and imitate, with this view, the policy 
of the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans; or 
any other system that engages the citizen to 
labour, and thereby enables him to marry. 


209 


Frequently divert his mind with useful and 
innocent spectacles; and furnish him good 
moral examples. Load then the brothels 
with the greatest infamy, and with as many 
restrictive obligations and burthens as you 
please : but let them be made public as soon 
possible; let them be well marked out to 
every one's observation; and then decree 
with Caesar that the profligates, who frequent 
such, are incapable of holding any public 
situation ; and that the fathers of families are 
every where to be honoured and respected. 

Gambling, or Lotteries. 

Sire, Your assessors are rare geniuses in¬ 
deed. Their principles seem ever at variance 
with the common sense of mankind, and are 
those of quite another world. Experience 
teaches us here in ours that cheap gambling 
is the most ruinous of vices, and much more 
fatal even than debauchery. Your Majesty's 
counsellors, however, in reprobating brothels, 
have solemnly sanctioned gambling. They 
reprobated the former, stiling such a scandal 
in the state; and they authorized the latter, 


210 


affirming it to be a means of occupation for 
the citizen. They reprobated brothels, and 
yet, at the same, did every thing in their 
power to promote debauchery! When they 
opened to idleness its neplus ultra scope ; when 
they held out such frequent examples of im¬ 
morality and injustice ; when they supported 
the absolute power and arbitrary measures of 
the great, and kept the people in the utmost 
misery and depression ; granting every favour 
to those in high life, and withholding from 
the lower orders the necessary means of main¬ 
taining their unquestionable rights. They 
substituted cheap gambling as a means of oc¬ 
cupation for the people, at the very time that 
they increased beggary, and forced idleness 
upon the people ; when they so reduced the 
number of civil and military employments; 
when they induced you to make regulations 
diametrically opposite to the progress of the 
primitive and meliorating arts, and to com¬ 
merce ; after so checking the public educa¬ 
tion, and after witnessing the decision of 
the Palermo Parliament, that no games of 
hazard should be authorized by government. 


211 


Sire, this is a discovery truly worthy of a dis¬ 
tinguished place in the annals of the literary 
and political republic, that cheap gambling 
should be an advantageous occupation for the 
people, and even a more useful one than any 
which the primitive arts,industry,or commerce, 
the literary, civil or military pursuits are 
capable of furnishing. Your assessors retard, 
or overlook all these, and turn their chief at¬ 
tention to the games of hazard, in hopes, 
with such to better the circumstances of the 
state. Your people are surely more indebted 
to them for such a discovery, than ever they 
were to your Gioja of Amalfi for that of the ma¬ 
riner's compass. It would have been but right, 
however, that the rare and worthy inventors 
had imitated that philosopher in the transport, 
with which he rushed out of the public bath, 
and ran all naked along the streets exclaiming 
Inveni, inveni: I have found it, 1 have 
found it: since a discovery so very advanta¬ 
geous to the interests of humanity, should 
have been made public as soon as possible; 
and the other governments ought not to have 
lost one moment in reducing it to practice ; 


212 


especially as this new order of things enabled 
them to reduce a great proportion of their 
soldiery, to whom this expedient afforded more 
advantageous employment. Sire, the wor¬ 
thy inventor of this grand secret received 
only ten thousand dollars, and this 
without the least eclat , and merely to make 
it a matter of conscience for you to autho- 
rize it. It would be still but just to grant 
him some further remuneration, more suited 
to his deserts. Sire, if he has discovered in 
fine that the lottery-wheel, the Faro , the 
rouge et noir , are proper occupations, and 
the most effectual to reclaim your subjects 
from vice to virtue; he has certainly stum¬ 
bled upon something even more precious than 
the philosopher s stone , or the elixir of life , 
so vainly sought after by the adepts . 

Excess in Eating and Drinking. 

Sire, your Ministers deem this subject al¬ 
together unworthy of their notice. They 
smile perhaps, on hearing mention made of 
the public dinners of the Spartans. They 
must have thought a Lycurgus mad, in taking 


I 


213 

such pains to make his countrymen so sober 
and moderate in their manner of living ; and 
they must have deemed it mere folly in the 
children of Esculapius to suppose that health, 
vigour and longevity are the effects of temper¬ 
ance. Be their judgment what it may on 
this particular, since they have not deigned 
to explain their minds upon the subject, nor 
have we as yet found a key to them, such as 
Momus very properly required in order to 
get at the heart of Vulcan's man; we still 
think it our duty to pay on this score, the just 
tribute of our deference to Harpocrates. 

System of Amusements. 

The system of amusements is the system 
of nature ; the balm of those evils that exas¬ 
perate us ; the opiate of the cares that weigh 
too heavy upon us ; and the decoy from those 
vices that most allure us. 

In human mechanism nothing is done with¬ 
out loss. Newton had observed that every 
agent suffers by acting; it is weakened by 
reaction, or worn by continuing to act. All 


214 


philosophers are perfectly aware that man 
diversifies his actions by varying his atten¬ 
tion; and that, by such variation, the ac¬ 
tive principle is made to range through the 
several branches, of which the organs and 
machines are composed; so as while activat¬ 
ing the one, it soothes, restores, and fortifies 
anew the others, already too much strained or 
depressed. This proves to us, that the sen- 
sorium-principle is only to be kept intent to 
a given time, and on its various objects, not al¬ 
ways on one and the same, and that the mind 
of man requires evagations and distractions. 
Nature herself observes the same method in 
seeking to maintain the harmony of life. She 
is beautiful because she knows so well how to 
vary her form ; and she is various and admi¬ 
rable in the variety of her productions ; for 
the whole system of the universe is nothing 
but variety; and the decomposition of one 
part in it is made to cause the reproduction of 
another. If such is the natural order of 
things, that of man must be the same; 
and all governments, anxious to better their 
condition, can never oppose so general a law, 


215 


as the one imposed on nature by the Supreme 
• 

The divertive system is therefore the sys- 
stem of all the states in life; and it is such, 
because every society is accompanied with 
numberless most afflicting and fatal evils ; 
nor is it in the power of government to relieve 
the citizen from the painful pressure of such, 
but by innocent and useful pastimes. The 
great difficulty consists solely in the proper 
choice to be made of divertive establish* 
ments, and in finding the means to 
support them. From this choice, and from 
the application of these means, the goods 
and evils attendant on governments are de¬ 
rived. 

Sire, What establishments of this descrip¬ 
tion have you got in your dominions ? By 
what means do you divert the mind of the 
citizen from the evils he endures ; or how do 
you lighten his cares ? With religious festi¬ 
vals ; with theatrical entertainments ; with 
court pagentry and visits of etiquette. Such 



216 


pastimes are certainly fit entertainment for 
idleness, and calculated to distract the mind ; 
but do thev at the same time yield any in¬ 
citement to labour; any vigour to the body ; 
any forwarding impulse to the arts; any 
stimulus to virtue, or any resources to the 
wants of the state ? 

Sire, Do you look for piety in the abstract, 
while, in general, immorality, bad habits and 

injustice are so sanctioned ? If good morals are 

# 

wanting to your people in the midst of your 
religious solemnities, these are rather a scan¬ 
dal than an enhancement to Divine Worship. 

. ' * $ rv 

Your theatres are but so many schools of 
effeminacy, not affording any alleviation to 
wearied industry. The court-pageantry and 
frequent etiquette-visits lead but in triumph 
your court vassalage, without adding any 
thing to your real grandeur. Their whole 
pomp is furnished out by foreign manufac¬ 
tures ; and you shew yourself, while decked 
out in these, only the first tributary to the 
stranger. 


217 


If you wish your people to be truly reli¬ 
gious, endeavour to withdraw them from 
evil; and ease their minds from all the cares 
that afflict them. Seek only to appear truly 
great. Remove your subjects from all temp¬ 
tations to profligacy. Destroy vice and 
crime in their source. Keep the citizen al¬ 
ways well employed. Encourage matrimony. 
Render your people energetic, fond of la¬ 
bour, and industrious ; and make them lovers 
and admirers of genuine merit. Establish 
exhibitions of objects of art and manufacture, 
and cause fairs and festivals to be held for 
that purpose. These, besides diverting the 
public mind, would promote and ameliorate 
the productions of the country. Establish 
also festivals for rewarding and honouring 
those who have excelled in agriculture, pas¬ 
turage, mineralogy, the nautical art, mecha¬ 
nism,learning, industry and commerce; as also 
those holding offices in the state;and all,whose 
talents, application and merits deserve to be 
distinguished. These, Sire, are the real 
means of diverting, and at the same time of 
benefiting your people. Yield only the post - 

P 


/ 


2 18 




liminial honours to the festivals of the Sam- 
nites; of those your ancient countrymen, who 
had the hardihood to make even the Romans 
stoop beneath their yoke. Arrange matters so, 
as to make those expect most from their coun¬ 
try,who have proved most useful to it; having 
shewn themselves the most virtuous in it; so 
that each may be thus induced to contribute 
his utmost to its advantage; to supply it 
with brave defenders, and wise directors ; to 
beget a lawful progeny ; and hence to avoid 
all profligacy and gluttony ; thus to augment 
and improve the species; and so to make 
patriotism, and the social virtues which al¬ 
ways accompany it, resume once more their 
lost sway over the minds of your people. 

Why not restore the athletic games, and 
do away with those of hazard ? The former 
will renew in your subjects the pristine vigour 
of their ancestors; while the last can only 
tend to plunge them into crime and anarchy. 

Why not stir up a competition for merit, 
to be held every year in the capital, every 


/ 




219 


half year in each province, and every 
month in the chief district ? Let the conduct 
of Judges principally be scrutinized in these ; 
next that of public functionaries ; and finally 
that of all who aspire at being employed in 
the state ; and then the wishes of your peo¬ 
ple, as well as the public registers, will en¬ 
able you to distinguish the worthy from the 
unworthy ; and will make you know them by 
public, positive and notorious facts, not by 
anonymous informations, adulatory shifts and 
subterfuges. 

i 

These are the spectacles, Sire, which your 
kingdom stands in need of; such as can ad¬ 
vantageously ease the fatigues of labour, ef¬ 
fectually divert the mind from evils, relieve it 
%/ 

from care, and engage the citizen still more 
and more in new, useful and becoming pur¬ 
suits ; and also excite him to augment the 
public resources, affording you a just right to 
all your regal display, and securing his own 
and your real greatness. 

Sire, from what you ought to have done 
for the good of your people, and from all you 

p 2 


220 


have been hitherto induced to do in their re* 
gard, you now clearly perceive that you have 
been imposed upon ; and you will also ac¬ 
knowledge that they who made you act so, 
must either be real quadrupeds, or the 
choicest set of villains in existence. 

New, and more fatal Illusions. 

Sire, the above mentioned are not the 
only illusions to which you have been ex¬ 
posed : there are others more fatal that sur¬ 
round you; and the more fatal, as you are 
made to believe, that the facts, on which 
they are grounded, are advantageous; and 
the circumstances attending them useful to 
the public. Be not. Sire, misled by so 
fatal a mistake. Know that your Ministers 
have turned to deadly poison the very me¬ 
dicine intended for your safety. Contem¬ 
plate this truth in the persecution you were 
induced to commence against all the sec¬ 
taries in your kingdom. Observe it in your 
own political transformation ; and consider it 
well in the resolution you were persuaded 
to adopt of abolishing the new constitution 
granted by yourself to Sicily. 


221 


Persecution of the Free Masons 

AND CARBONARIANS. 

% 

Sire, you were persuaded to persecute the 
Free Masons and Carbonarians; and why, 
pray ? Let us see for what reasons. 

You cannot be ignorant of the surprising 
effects of religious enthusiasm. You are 
well aware that the wisest and most respecta¬ 
ble proportion of your subjects belonged 
either to the Masonic or Carbonarian Socie¬ 
ties. You know the grand maxim of Taci¬ 
tus, which is, that number is always to be 
respected. You know, too, that man is 
prone to covet whatever is prohibited. 
You were informed that the persecution of 
the Carbonarians of Cosenza, under General 
Manhes, augmented their number from only 
one to thirty ; and you very well know, that 
Murat owed his downfal to that persecu¬ 
tion, which he had raised; for his troops 
almost all belonged to the societies, which he 
opposed; and after so bravely fighting on 
the banks of the Panaro, calling to mind 

p 3 


222 


that he was their persecutor whom they 
were defending, they gave up fighting any 
longer in his cause, and refused any more to 
carry arms under him. You then. Sire, 
perhaps, would have profited of j^our rival's 
blunder; since you dispatched from Palermo 
various seals of secret corellation, having the 
inscription, Natas ex hydrd debet mori , and 
sent several such to different sectaries. You 
have now been induced to persecute these 
same sectaries, however much you have had 
occasion to observe, that the name causes 
always produce the same effects : however 
much you were in circumstances to know 
that Napoleon owed principally to them his 
chief glory; and, to the insults he offered 
them, in a great measure his decline and 
overthrow. 

Do your assessors then, Sire, wish your fate 
to resemble that of your rival ? Most assur¬ 
edly. Be therefore undeceived at "last. To 
this very pass have the false friends brought 
you, who now surround your Majesty; and 
who have persuaded you to persecute those. 


/ 


223 

who had so assisted you; whose sole disgust 
could at once completely ruin you ; but whose 
friendship could prove the surest shield to 
your authority. That you may more clearly 
perceive this important truth, deign, Sire, to 
allow me only to ask what motives your ad¬ 
visers could have had in making you so per¬ 
secute these sectaries. These : that they were 
become numerous : that they might unite, 
and give umbrage to your Government: that 
their principles are liberal: that their ope¬ 
rations are not public ; and that they have 

their own secrets. 

% 

1. Is then the multitude to be hated, be¬ 
cause it may happen to be feared ? And is it 
not rather to be courted, for the sake of what 
one hopes through its assistance ? Nero 
wished the Roman people to have had but one 
neck, and he a sword : politicians, on the 
contrary, wish for unanimity , population , con¬ 
cord and energy . The wish of the illustrious 
philanthropists who at present counsel you, is 
it that of a Nero, or that of politicians ? 
Does the multitude so annoy them ? Why 


224 


V 


then do they not withdraw themselves to the 
delightful solitudes of California ? Why do 
they not fly from every civilized society, and 
rather prefer living quite isolated among the 
brutes ? Why do they not leave to others 
more capable than themselves the care of 
turning to the best advantage that which 
they account so very dangerous, but which 
in the hands of a prudent director could be 
rendered the firmest bulwark, and most pre¬ 
cious ornament of the throne? Do your as¬ 
sessors imagine that the uniting so of sub¬ 
jects together compromises the safety of any 
sovereign? They thereby affirm that the se¬ 
curity of the sovereign consists in the disu¬ 
nion and contrariety of the subjects : and 
that his government is best settled, when his 
kingdom is divided by opposite factions, and 
contending parties. And can these sacred 
Areopagists of state still persuade you of such 
an absurdity ? 

Are the unions of these sectaries seditious 
conspiracies, or meetings only for the pur¬ 
pose of rendering more enlightened their fel- 


I 


225 

low creatures ? Sire, even the governments 
the most unfriendly to such sectaries, never 
lay to their account any such treasonable 
attempts; nor have they ever been able to 
shew in them the smallest impropriety. Their 
number increases in proportion as the na¬ 
tions become civilized ; and the wisest and 
most philanthropic nations patronize them. 
Would vour Ministers annihilate them, be- 
cause they think them really hurtful to the 
public good ; or because the civilization of 
their associates fills them with dismay ; or be¬ 
cause an enlightened people embraces them ; 
or because these worthies would wish to bru- 
tify the minds of the citizens, in order that 
they might be free to act the despots ? 

The sectaries may give umbrage to the 
government; and can they not also impart 
force and vigour to it equally? If one is to 
judge only by possibilities, and possibilities 
taken in the worst sense, why are the enlight¬ 
ened counsellors of your Majesty at so safe a 
distance from chains, dungeons, and the 
gallows ? 


326 


The Free Masons and Carbonarians profess 
the most liberal principles. They are there¬ 
fore the more to be esteemed, and cannot so 
be dangerous. Have, perhaps, by some 
state-metamorphosis, the citizens of the O- 
itETUS and Sebetus been all at once trans¬ 
formed into Mussulmen ? Have your people 
no more any right to make themselves ac¬ 
quainted with truth ? Must they be thrown 
back into barbarism and ignorance, in order 
to give place to your Ministers, and allow 
them pretences for usurping the sultanship of 
your palace ? But in all the wished-for bar¬ 
barism and ignorance of your subjects, would 
you, Sire, be more illustrious P Could you 
hope to be better counselled : more strong 
and secure ? Once deprived of all civilization 
and foresight, could any society render itself 
more prosperous, or become imposing ? The 
sectaries hold secret tenets : must they there¬ 
fore be false, dangerous to the state, and 
deserving to be annulled ? When a principle 
is occult, though not so to every body, must 
it for that reason be false and pernicious? 
Were this the case, Newton's principle of gra- 


227 


vity ought to be accounted absurd; and 
Copernicus system deserves once more to 
be fulminated with the papal anatheme. The 
sacred Scripture would not be exempted from 
a similar fate, in as far as it is obscure and 
allegorical. The ancient church, too, ought 
not to have been credited, on account of the 
vast precautions it took in instructing its 
catechumens and Neophites. Every mystery 
would run the risk of being turned into ridi¬ 
cule, on account of its obscurity ; and Para¬ 
dise itself would be in danger of seeming, to 
your Ministers, the refuge of the wicked, 
because St. Paul, who was transported thi¬ 
ther in spirit, affirms that he could not re¬ 
veal to mortals, the secrets which he had 
witnessed there. But why, Sire, pursue thus 
the shadow, when the substance itself is in 
sight? The divine Saviour has given you the 
rule, by which you are to distinguish 
the hypocrites from the righteous: Ex 
OPE R IB US EORUM COGNOSCETIS EOS. By 

their works you shall know them . The Free 
Masons, Sire, and the Carbonarians were 
always esteemed as persons the most distin- 


\ 


228 


guished for their good sense and moral con¬ 
duct. But, pray, what sort of men are your 
Ministers ? Know them by their deeds, both 
public and private; know them even in their 
determination to persecute the above-men¬ 
tioned sectaries. Know them, as described 
in the well-known proverb: all fowls of one 
feather flock iogether; but shun and abhor 
those of a different kind. 

Sire, if these are the motives which made 
you persecute the sectaries, you will now 
own with me that you have persecuted them, 
because you have been imposed upon ; and 
not for any good reason, or sound political 
motive ; and that you have been so imposed 
upon on account of the rivalry and difference 
of character existing between those who im¬ 
posed upon your Majesty and the said secta¬ 
ries : imposed upon, because your assessors, 
consulting only their own interest, wished to 
make you smite the fire with the sword; be¬ 
cause it was not very safe for your counsellors 
that the Carbonarians and Free Masons 
should remain any longer your friends and 


229 


supporters, as they could not in such case 
make caprice and deceit lord it so absolutely. 
All this, however, Sire, is but the effect of 
reaction. The chief object your Ministers 
had in view in inducing you to raise such a 
pesecution, was a very different one from 
what they pretended; it was that such a per¬ 
secution afforded them a most specious pre¬ 
text for extending the empire of arbitrary 
caprice, subterfuge and perfidy ; and for se¬ 
curing by that means for ever both their own 
interests, and those of the most barefaced 
imposition and villainy. Examine only the 
proofs of my assertion. 

At the commencement of the persecution 
raised against the sectaries, let us attend to 
what was done, what was seen, and what was 
heard. 

A vast number of dark denunciations were 
every where rumoured abroad. A great many 
of the most exemplary individuals were dis¬ 
missed from office in the following formula : 
The King stands no more in need oj your 


230 


service . Signed N. N. Minister. Many were 
arrested, without any one's knowing why. 
A great many persons of distinction were 
banished the kingdom, without obtaining 
a hearing, or learning the cause of their dis¬ 
grace. Nothing was seen but incarcerations 
and excarcerations; while none could guess 
the motives for either. Several were exalted 
to preferments, who had never displayed 
either personal merit, or any of the civil qua¬ 
lities requisite for the situations, in which 
they were placed. 

At the time, Sire, when these events took 
place, many speculating geniuses asserted 
that all this pretence was only used in order 
to upset, with less risk, the order of things, 
which your Majesty had pledged yourself to 
respect. Others were of opinion that all this 
plan was agreed upon, in order to afford 
greater scope to anonymous informations dic¬ 
tated often by the Ministers themselves, in 
order to displace those, whose reliance on their 
own uprightness proved hurtful to them • 
and in order to substitute in their room those 


231 


who shewed themselves more liberal towards 
them, and towards some of their female dis¬ 
pensers of favours. Not a few conjectured 
that such a stratagem had been hatched, with 
a view to injure those subjects, whose views 
could not be made to tally with those of your 
counsellors, who were supposed to have secret 
motives for disliking them. Divers others 

ventured to maintain that the arrestations 

/ 

without grounds, and liberations without end, 
were, and could only be, effects produced by 
the magic touch of gold. There were still 
some who would have it that whoever could 
shew himself a prodigal in his defence, how¬ 
ever much addicted to Carbonarianism and 
Free Masonry, was no more considered as 
such; and it was then said of your former, 
and still the same Ministers, 

Whoe’er has money, bread and wine ; 

He scoundrel is, and Jacobine : 

to which couplet the following has been since 
added : 

Nor Carbonair, nor Mason he, 

Whoe’er his judge can largely fee. 

Sire, nothing is asserted or affirmed here of 


232 


all these surmises and suppositions. All that 
is advanced is, that granting only the princi¬ 
ple laid down, the consequences thence de¬ 
duced must be admitted. It is moreover pre¬ 
sumed that you yourself, Sire,cannot have for¬ 
gotten that the projected revolt of Naples in 
1808, under Count Palmieri, had been pro¬ 
jected by the very advisers, who just now sur¬ 
round you ; and that it was thought fit to 
encourage the conspirators on that occasion 
with the assurance that they would he en¬ 
riched wiih the spoils of the opulent ! ! as ap¬ 
pears from the original letter, printed and 
made public by the French Government. 
What would those stick at, who had been 
capable of giving such an assurance? What 
then was the principal object your Ministers 
sought to realize, in instigating you on against 
the said sectaries ? Deign only to remark it. 

They very well knew that Murat had been 
upset chiefly for having persecuted the Car- 
bonarians; nor could they, who now coun¬ 
sel you, be ignorant of this, since in 1814, 
they were sent from Palermo to the sectaries 


233 


all over the kingdom of Naples those seals of 
secret correspondence, having the above men¬ 
tioned inscription, with the emblem of a 
ship having on board an Austrian, a British, 
and a Sicilian soldier. 

These your Ministers knew equally well 
that the successes of Napoleon were in a 
great measure obtained through the exertions 
made in his favour by the Free Masons ; while 
these imagined they had found in him the 
defender and supporter of their principles. 
Your government had already acknowledged 
the fact on that point. It considered the 
sectaries as Bonaparte's agents, stiling Ja¬ 
cobins all those, whom it considered as your 
adversaries, and the partizans of Napoleon. 
You yourself had witnessed how that Ruler of 
France, on finding himself once well installed, 
and thinking his power by his new connexion 
and marriage sufficiently confirmed, thought 
of destroying those societies, which had till 
then favoured him ; and which, when wishing 
to act the despot, he thought he had reason 
to fear; he therefore had recourse to the 

Q 


234 


most cunning of stratagems; and wishing to 
accomplish their ruin, he thought of doing 
it in the least perceptible manner possible. 
And imagining he could bring them into con¬ 
tempt by exposing their secrets, he caused a 
containing them to be published. 

1 thus to damp the zeal of proseli- 
tism, and gradually extinguish the societies. 
In spite of all this rare finessse, his designs 
were perfectly seen through. The above 
mentioned societies thought themselves thus 
betrayed and insulted ; and they therefore 
abandoned him to his fate. His designs 
against Russia were unveiled ; his measures 
rendered inefficacious; his attempts were frus¬ 
trated ; and while he strove in vain to make 
it be thought that the nations were no longer 
desirous of being enlightened, those that ac¬ 
tually were so, and whom he had insulted, 
had already decided his ruin. 

All this, Sire, was not quite unknown to 
those, who now counsel you ; and who wish¬ 
ing to make you forfeit for ever your autho¬ 
rity, induced you to persecute Free Masonry ; 


catechism 
He fancie 


235 


and to hunt down those very Carbonarians, 
who had rendered you such services. 

Basis of the Constitution granted to Sicily 
by its Sovereign , at the request of his subjects; 
guaranteed to that country by Great Britain ; 
and abolished by the actual Ministry of Na¬ 
ples ! ! ! 

Behold, Sire, the most hateful object 
of scandal to your Ministers ; but the most 
glorious cegis of your people ; the firmest ba¬ 
sis of all your greatness; and therefore the 
butt the most exposed to the subterfuges of 
perfidy. The wicked, those sages of dark¬ 
ness and delusion that now surround you, 
have used every shift in order to deceive you 
on this subject. Your authority, say they, is at 
stake if you persist in maintaining the Sicilian 
Constitution. To enable you therefore to form 
a just opinion on a matter of such moment, 
permit your assessors to be cited by me to the 
tribunal of common sense ; and their coun¬ 
sels to be examined and discussed in all their 
bearings. 

q 2 


<236 


Ye wise Areopagites of the Throne, come 
forth at last from your dominion of darkness; 
attend me to the temple of reason, and assist 
at the altar of truth ; where dropping for once 
your masks, enter the sanctuary of Themis, 
in the presence of your Sovereign : be seated ; 
recover your spirits, perhaps a little flurried ; 
drink a little ; calm yourselves; and then 
prepare to explain yourselves in a way to be 
understood by the rest of mankind. The ba¬ 
sis of the system which you opposed is the 
under mentioned. Use the best arguments 
you can to discredit it, and to prove that you 
have not betrayed your King in persuading 
him to abolish it. 

1. The government shall consist of three 
powers, the legislative, the judiciary and the 
executive. Two houses, one of nobles, the 
other of representatives of the people, shall 
constitute the Parliament; which shall have 
the legislative power. 

The judiciary power shall reside in the ma¬ 
gistrates, or in the civil and criminal judges. 

The King shall represent the executive 
power. 


237 


I 


The first of these shall discuss and enact 
the laws. The second shall see them applied 
to their respective purposes. The third shall 
approve or reject those proposed; and enforce 
the observance of such as are sanctioned. 

2. These three powers shall have a reci¬ 
procal dependence in point of corellation, in¬ 
formation and authority. The laws proposed 
by the Parliament shall not be binding, un¬ 
til they are sanctioned by the King. The 
King shall have the power of making peace 
and war; but not of raising troops, nor of 
imposing duties on the people. It is only the 
Parliament that can furnish the subsidies. 
His Majesty shall choose and change his 
Ministers at pleasure ; but these must lay 
before the Parliament the measures of go¬ 
vernment. The Sovereign shall nominate 
the judges; but these once named shall re¬ 
main such for life; nor can the Monarch 
any more interfere with their proceedings. 
Parliament shall call them to an account for 
any neglect of duty; and for that purpose 
shall subject them to a regular trial. 

q 3 


238 


3. The press shall be free ; but blasphemy, 
calumny, and libel shall be punished. 

4. His Majesty's person is considered sa¬ 
cred : the errors of government are those of 
his Ministers. 

5. The religion of the state shall be the 
actually established one; which none shall 
be allowed to impugn. 

Behold that pentagon of state, on which was 
based the Sicilian Constitution. Illustrious 
ministers of darkness, deign to examine with 
me a little this political polygon; and, for 
that purpose, to pass on to the following 
points. 

FIRST POINT. 

Nature of the Laws resulting from such a 

The first point requiring your attention on 
this subject is the nature of the laws to be 
thence derived. 

Laws must depend on circumstances, and 
on the wants of the people. They therefore 



239 


who have the best opportunity of being ac¬ 
quainted with these circumstances and wants, 
are best able to propose proper laws. Why 
then should it grieve you so very much if 
those should propose the laws, who are bound 
to observe them ; that they should reject or 
approve them, who must see them executed ? 
You see that, in the proposed system, the 
establishments to be made for the Sicilian, 
were such as he himself would have been most 
desirous of having; such as his wisest represen¬ 
tatives judged the fittest for him ; and as his 
Sovereign, and you yourselves, must deem 
the most for his advantage. If then you 
think proper to reprobate these laws, con¬ 
demn first the nation's extravagance. Call 
its representatives capricious; its Sovereign 
stupid ; and yourselves a set of immoral 
blockheads. 


SECOND POINT. 

Distinction and Division of Powers . 

You dislike the distinction and division of 
powers: let us see with what reason. Are you 


240 


not aware that he attends to little, who has too 
many things to attend to ? That the more 
objects are distinct, the better the nature of 
them is understood P That where a thorough 
knowledge is wanting, a proper arrangement 
cannot take place ? That the classification 
introduced by Linneus has very much im¬ 
proved natural history ? that the new distinc¬ 
tions of Botanists have been of the greatest 
advantage to that branch of history ? That the 
exactness of pneumatics has raised chemis¬ 
try to so exalted a pitch ; and that for such 
reasons the Peripatetic very properly insisted 
so much on the distinctness of ideas ? If this 
be the case, it follows by analogy that a sys¬ 
tem so advantageous in so many branches of 
human knowledge, instead of being hurtful, 
must be extremely useful in politics also; 
and hence, that the distinction of the afore¬ 
said powers tend to confer upon each the 
most suitable aptness to arrange, fulfil and di¬ 
rect well the respective duties he has to dis¬ 
charge ; besides that it affords the state the 
surest guarantee of its wants being provided for 
in the best possible manner; ot its resources 


/ 


241 


being employed most to its profit; and 
its means turned to the best account. If the 
division of the said powers lessens to every 
one the multiplicity of his duties and occu¬ 
pations, it must at the same time afford to 
those in office more variety in their perform¬ 
ance, and therefore new lights, to enable 
every one to acquit himself better and better 
of the charge he happens to be entrusted 
with. It is quite obvious to every one that 
he can best fulfil his duty, who has least to 
do in a given time ; who, in the same circum¬ 
stances, knows best how to distinguish and 
class his affairs each according to its kind; 
and who, having the same identical objects 
in view, can use the most conducive means 
towards their perfect accomplishment. 

These principles being granted, which in¬ 
deed are but so many axioms, it is a lawful 

V 7 

and necessary inference that whoever opposes 
such a distinction and division, as the 
abovementioned, wishes only for confusion, 
and opposes the proper arrangement of what 
is to be classed. That consequently he 


242 


wishes not, in the case in question, the duties 
annexed to the respective powers to be ful- 
filed ; but that their fulfilment should be ren¬ 
dered equivocal, and more difficult: or, to 
speak more plainly, he has a mind to render 
vain in fact those very powers, and particu¬ 
larly to betray the illustrious individual, in 
whose person he wishes them united : ye, 
gentlemen, are therefore above all others 
traitors to the state, and especially to your 
Sovereign. Was it then a crime in your eyes 
to adopt in politics a system, which made 
the arts and sciences make such rapid pro¬ 
gress ? Or do you imagine that one sole per¬ 
son can see clearer than all do? Can you 
suppose that a Sovereign artfully diverted by 
you yourselves from his attention to public 
affairs; exceedingly exposed ; frequently se¬ 
duced ; and on a thousand occasions betray¬ 
ed ; will be less subject to err, unassisted by 
wise cousellors, and surrounded only by a 
set of gloomy villains ; or that he will resist 
better all the seductions of the head and the 
heart, than he could do were he enlightened 
and directed by a whole assembly of illustri- 


243 


ous men? You, who alone are capable of 
advising so absurd a measure, let us 
know at least on what data you ground 
your opinion : or rather throw aside your 
masks, and shew us on what grounds you 
boast of being alone the brightest luminaries 
in the kingdom ; whose views, political, mili¬ 
tary and economical far surpass in wisdom 
those of all the learned in the nation; or why 
you would pass for state idols, and geniuses 
of so superior a cast to those of your fellow 
mortals? You such!! We should be most 
happy to admire in you so illustrious a cha¬ 
racter ; but the title, which you have hitherto 
strove so much to win, will not so easily be 
reconciled with such a wish. Meanwhile 
would you tell us in secret why you so abhor 
the distinction of powers, and wish to unite 
them all in your Sovereign ? Is it to illustrate 
or to sacrifice him ? To make him forward or 
retard the dispatch of public business ; and 
thus to mar the hopes of the nation ? Is it to 
enlighten the Sovereign on the affairs of his 
kingdom, or not rather to leave him in con¬ 
fusion and ignorance, in order that you may 


244 


become the despots of the state, and the 
tyrants of the country ? Do you wish to fur¬ 
nish more occupation for the Sovereign P Why 
then were all your endeavours directed to¬ 
wards diverting him from the concerns of 
his kingdom ? Why do you still let him know 
so little about them ? Have you the interests 
of the throne and kingdom at heart ? Why 
then did you make your Prince cut so dis¬ 
graceful a figure ? And why have you so 
often exposed the provinces to anarchy and 
confusion ? Why have you almost always left 
the kingdom under foreign influence ? Why ? 

.But wherefore not consider you under 

your own genuine aspect P Why not excuse 
your wishes, your shifts and endeavours? 
But how could you relish the above- 
mentioned distinction of powers ? Did it 
exist, you could not become so the tyrants 
of the kingdom. You could not then con¬ 
ceal your plots, impostures and illusions; 
nor keep the Sovereign any longer in the 
dark as to the wretchedness of his people; 
the injustice of his Magistrates; the prepon¬ 
derant of the Barons ; the extortions of the 


245 


Ministry, and its dependants; and their mo¬ 
nopoly. You could not then exalt the unfit, 
the infamous and abandoned ; and cast down 
the worthiest of his subjects. You could not 
support your mistresses, the dispensers of 
public employments ; nor your favourites, the 
treasurers of your gifts and bounties; and 
by them make it be publicly understood that 
the dispatches are vendible ; that the Sove¬ 
reign decrees are set up to sale; that jus¬ 
tice depends entirely on your caprice, and 
on the favours which you condescend to 
grant, and which you grant only to your 
vile adherents. You could not banish, 
without hearing them, the blameless; nor 
arrest under feigned pretences, punish without 
guilt, or liberate without cause. You could 
not urge the Monarch to such wrong and 
ruinous measures; thus involving him in so 
many misfortunes, distresses and dangers; 
and his people in such deplorable calamities. 
You have been able to do all this, because 
you have had the opportunity of deceiving 
the Sovereign : and you have deceived him, 
since you have led him into a Babel of con- 


246 


fusion, and have concealed from him the 
truth, because there was no one, who durst 
publish your villanies ; and because it is not 
left in the citizen's power to reason on the per¬ 
fidious conduct of the ministry. 

THIRD POINT. 

Differences of the Faculties of the respective 

Powers . 

The faculties are the means granted to 
the person employed, to enable him to fulfil 
the duties of the charge confided to him. 
Such fulfilment is more prompt, sure and suc¬ 
cessful, in proportion as the one employed is 
up to his business ; as he has the less to do ; 
and as the means, which he uses in order to 
succeed, are analagous to the nature, and 
corresponding to the exertions he must use 
in his respective employment. If this is the 
case, shew us the reason why the judiciary 
power should be more exposed to the influ¬ 
ence of caprice, favour or hatred in the sys¬ 
tem we allude to; while it exempts from all 
such influence the decrees of the judges; 


247 


and subjects them for their injustice to a re¬ 
gular investigation of their conduct by Par¬ 
liament. 

Declare to us why they ought not to be 
the representatives of the nation, who pro¬ 
pose the laws ; notwithstanding that they are 
those who know best the wants, the cir¬ 
cumstances, and the abilities of the people, 
whose substitutes they are; and why the 
Sovereign should not sanction or reject the 
laws proposed, since he is supposed the best 
informed upon all that concerns the govern¬ 
ment, and its political correlations? 

Shew us how it is improper that the peo¬ 
ple's representatives should determine the 
duties to be laid on ; notwithstanding that 
they are the only persons well acquainted 
with the means, resources, and situation of 
their fellow citizens ; and why the Monarch 
should not remit to them the civil list, and 
oblige his Ministry to account to Parliament 
for the income and outlay of the public 
funds ; considering that the civil and mili- 


248 


tary administration depends on the execu¬ 
tive power: and that a good economist is all 
the better for looking frequently into his ac¬ 
counts ; as they, who have the management 
of them, are thus prevented from defrauding 
him. 

Let us know what it is that so precludes 
the principle destined to enforce the obser¬ 
vance of the laws, and to proportion out the 
national expenditure ; while the public force 
is entrusted to its care, and those in civil 
situations are dependent on its orders. 

Expose to us the real cause, which renders 
so odious to you, and makes you think so 
pernicious, an establishment of this kind ; 
a repartition of faculties, so conducive to the 
perfecting of the above described national 
triumvirate. 

Is it perhaps because the proposed system 
secures public order; and as in order there can 
exist no disorder, so without disorder caprice 
would not be idolized? Is it perhaps because 
it realizes the public resources, and does not 


249 


allow the sweat of the poor to be abused of, 
the nation to become any more bankrupt, 
and the state to forfeit its credit ? Is it per¬ 
haps because it prevents the wrong measures 
of the Sovereign, unjust wars, arbitrary in¬ 
justice ; and takes from you the power of in¬ 
dulging in subterfuge, seduction and per¬ 
fidy ? Is it perchance because you dislike that 
the errors, the crimes, the abuse of power in 
those whom you employ, should be known, 
and punished by the nation ? Is it perhaps, 
because it proves your stupidity in having se¬ 
lected such ; since their punishment would 
redound to your own disgrace ; and such a 
consideration would hinder you from instal¬ 
ling your own vile, infamous and profligate 
favourites; and would not allow you to au¬ 
thorize in them your despotism, and the de¬ 
gradation of the public ? Are you vexed that 
the Magistrates should be no longer at your 
orders, that you might the more easily cor¬ 
rupt them, and dispose of their decisions at 
your pleasure ? Is it because you think your¬ 
selves the only sages knowing the people’s 
wants and circumstances; and therefore the 


250 


fittest, as Supreme Dictators, to legislate upon 
the subject. The many contradictions and 
incongruities in the laws you have made al¬ 
ready, put that point beyond a doubt. Is it 
because you wish to be the only managers of 
the customs ? The repeated bankruptcy of 
the nation under your wise statutes, proves 
what great advantages it ^might hope to de¬ 
rive from such excellent economists. Is it 
perhaps. sapienti pauca . 

FOURTH POINT. 

Reciprocal Dependence and mutual Connection 

of the Powers . 

This dependence renders the Parliament 
necessary to the Sovereign ; the Sovereign to 
the Parliament; and the Magistrates toboth. 
It consequently obliges each power to be com¬ 
plete in its attributes, and orderly in its 
measures. 

This is therefore the sure antidote against 
the influence of the passions, which might 
lead astray the Sovereign, the Magistracy and 




25 1 


the Parliament. By subjecting the one to 
the other, it unites their minds; making 
them direct well all their undertakings; and 
rendering more energetical and profitable 
their efforts. It destroys the base passions 
of each ; and, by the laws of contraries, while 
it keeps under the wicked, it will exalt the 
good; destroy vice; and introduce into the 
government and into all the kingdom, the 
seeds of the patriotic and social virtues. 
For what reason then could it ever be sup¬ 
posed that such a reciprocacy would not af¬ 
ford to the country the most protective aegis 
and glorious security? Would not bind the 
nation in the most indissoluble chain, not to 
be broken by its enemies ; but the best calcu¬ 
lated to pull down to its very foundations 
the empire of perfidy and of all public cala¬ 
mity ? Great Britain, thus guarded, in the 
late vortex, which had sucked in all the rest 
of Europe, clearly shewed how such a chain 
bound together, and secured its inhabi¬ 
tants : and how these, supported by it, were 
able to make head against the general 
Usurper. 

r 2 


252 


And you, ye supra-illustrious counsellors ! 
do you intend contradicting such evident 
facts! Do you.But no ... . The mis¬ 

take was ours. We imagined you were speak¬ 
ing of the evils,which the aforesaid correlation 
might introduce into the state : whereas you 
were only exposing to us the injuries done 
to it by false zeal and your unprincipled ego¬ 
tism. Pardon me, gentlemen, you are per¬ 
fectly right. All is now well; and we under¬ 
stand one another. 

Liberty of the Press. 

After its being established that the press 
cannot attack either the established reli¬ 
gion or the Sovereign, or the reputation 
of the citizen with impunity; what reason 
can exist for supposing that the rendering it 
free is a measure dangerous or hurtful to 
the state ? 

The press has been always considered in 
other nations as the organ of their govern¬ 
ments, and as the echo of the peopled senti¬ 
ments to their prince- The organ must be 



253 


harsh and dissonant, if he who touches it is 
unskilful, ill disposed, or unable to manage 
it ; and the national voice cannot be heard, 
unless it be allowed to utter itself spontane¬ 
ously. 

*•» 

Whom then can the liberty of the press 
offend ? Only the impostors; the perfidious; 
all those whose most infamous egotism en¬ 
deavours to diminish the national resources ; 
to destroy the authority of Princes, the de¬ 
signs of whose enemies they seek to favour: 
of all those who hate the light , became their 
deeds are evil: who wish to bury the nations 
in more than Egyptian darkness; who must 
hide themselves, in order to appear wise, and 
pass themselves for virtuous while they act 
the part of villains. 

Who finds his advantage in the liberty of 
the press ? He who is fond of civilization and 
truth : those princes who do not allow them¬ 
selves to be deluded and betrayed by their 
courtiers : those Sovereigns who wish to as¬ 
certain the real wants of their people ; and to 


( 25 4 


find out the means of supplying them : who 
wish to aggrandize themselves only by bet¬ 
tering the condition of their subjects; by 
securing to themselves their affection, toge¬ 
ther with the confidence of friends, and the 
respect of every other Monarch. 

Philip of Macedon, with the view of making 
himself master of Attica, used at first every 
means in his power to bribe the Spartan and 
Athenian orators, in order thus to keep the 
people in the dark as to his real designs. It 
was then that the clear-sighted Demosthenes 
related his fable, so celebrated in antiquity, 
that of the alliance between the dogs and the 

wolves : mentioning that the wolves wishing 

/ 

to get the sheep into their power, endeavoured 
to secure to themselves first the friendship of 
the dogs. It is the same with those who 
wish to hinder the liberty of the press. It is 
it alone that can warn the government of 
every snare laid for it by its enemies ; that 
can warn it of the misfortunes, to which the 
passions and fatal errors of its own very sub¬ 
jects expose it. He opposes the liberty of 


255 


the press, who undervalues such help and pro¬ 
tection. But ere he do so, let him reflect 
that in the late emergencies England, being 
the only country where the liberty of the 
press was truly cherished, was enabled thus 
to avoid all mistakes ; to repel the greatest 
efforts made against her by the common ene¬ 
my ; and rising from every fresh contest 
more majestic and glorious, to display far 
and wide her immortal trophies. 

0 * * 

FIFTH AND LAST POINT. 

Sacrifices,which the Throne is supposed to make , 
in maintaining the basis of the aforesaid 

Having exposed the first, let us now turn 
to consider the second subterfuge. 

Methinks I hear some hoarse throat loudly 
bawling out; the throne, in order to maintain 
the aforesaid basis, is constrained to make 
many sacrifices : and the Sicilian Constitu¬ 
tion has produced no good effects whatever. 
What! the Sicilian Constitution has produced 
no good effects ! To what then are we to 



256 


ascribe the improved civilization ot the Sici¬ 
lian ? From what principle then is derived 
that patriotic spirit, which is seen warming 
the hearts of so many • Why make no ac¬ 
count of such advantages, in spite of the 
shortness of the interval, during which the 
constitution was allowed to act; and of the 
immense obstacles opposed to it by the per¬ 
fidious, whom it had already overcome ? 
Why not recal the many vile manoeuvres, 
which you yourselves, and your occult satel¬ 
lites, had recourse to, in order to retard its 
progress, and destroy it • Why not consider 
how little was done to second it ? That if it 
did but little good, it did certainly some; 
and, at any rate, did no harm • Why not, on 
the other hand, reflect how much this same 
constitution, well supported by the govern¬ 
ment, has led the other nations to their very 
apogeum of glory and virtue ? Why ...... 

But it is needless to dwell so long on a point 
so very clear; so well authenticated by facts, 
experience, and the constant testimony of all 


as;es, 

o 


9.57 


And how can it ever be asserted that the 
Sovereign restricts himself to the most pain¬ 
ful sacrifices, on his adopting the foremen- 
tioned constitution ? Then it is a sacrifice to 
the Prince, it is a sacrifice to the nation which 
he governs, to secure their prosperity ? Yet 
who would not like to make such sacrifices ? 
But say; such sacrifices made by the throne, 
are they real, or only apparent ones? Are 
they necessary for the public good, or quite 
superfluous ? 

Are they but apparent , and not real ? 
Then do you not abuse your Sovereign's 
credulity, and hold out to him at all times 
the shadow for the substance ? Are they real ? 
And would you have him avoid making them, 
when it is demonstrated that such sacrifices 
are indispensible in the said system ; which 
system is so advantageous to the state ? 
This is as much as to say: Sire, do not do that, 
which is for the benefit of your kingdom : 
Irritate, do not sooth, the minds of your peo¬ 
ple : Expose to danger, do not secure from 
harm, your venerable old age. Are they 


I 


258 

necessary and conducive to the public good ? 
And do you, ye most illustrious counsellors, 
wish the Sovereign to dispense with them t 
Then you imagine him quite an egotist. You 
consider him as a fool; or you would wish 
him a traitor to the country : an egotist , by 
believing him incapable of sacrificing to the 
public good any trifling and petty private 
interest: a fool , by deeming him so very 
stupid, as not to perceive that the true glory 
of a Prince is derived from the splendour of 
his subjects ; that his power and greatness are 
grounded on the prosperity and strength of 
the people, over whom he presides : and that 
the nobility of the throne is exalted in pro¬ 
portion to the worthy qualities of the citizens, 
on which aggegrate qualities it rests : a trai¬ 
tor ,by making him neglect to fulfil the obliga- 
tions, which he contracted, when he took into 
his hands the reins of government; by in¬ 
ducing him thus to neglect consulting the 
happiness of the state, which he then pro¬ 
mised to attend to; and by making him 
lose the means calculated to secure, perpetu¬ 
ate and enlarge it. 


259 


Are these sacrifices superfluous ? Then you 
are the more able to direct his actions with the 
greatest success ; to activate him in the wav 
the most suitable possible, towards prosper¬ 
ing the nation to the very utmost. Alas! 
You still then wish to treat him as a fool; and 
such a fool as to perceive how much he has hi¬ 
therto been deceived, and consequently what 
a wretched figure he has made in the face of 
all Europe ; how much the splendour of his 
throne is eclipsed, and his people degraded; 
and, what is more, how much one still strives 
at present to impose upon him by such arti¬ 
fices. 

But without dwelling any longer on the 
reasons here adduced,deign but to reveal to us 
whether sincerely, truly and really you wish 
your Sovereign the absolute, independent and 
despotic head of the government for his own 
proper advantage; or only, for your own pri¬ 
vate ends, to humour your own whims, pas¬ 
sions and malefic intentions ? Let us examine 
attentively an article of such importance as 
this ; and then we shall see if the sacrifices 


260 


necessary for the throne to make, in order to 
maintain the constitution, regard the Prince 
or only his Ministers. 

What then are these sacrifices ? That the 
Sovereign shall not be able to dismiss, when¬ 
ever he pleases, the judges, whom he has 
once elected. A great sacrifice this, to be 
sure! But in what manner would he wish 
such to be dismissed ? In a regular, or an 
arbitrary manner? For any crime they have 
committed, or from mere caprice ? 

In the first supposition, the affair rests 
with the Magistrate. It is consequently the 
law, and not the Sovereign, to degrade them. 
The proposed system does all this perfectly 
well by means of the Parliament. In the lat¬ 
ter supposition, what reason can authorize 
such a dismissal ? Not justice ; nor the com¬ 
mon good neither. If the judge wants capa¬ 
city, it was the fault of the Ministry to have 
chosen him, not that of the constitution. If 
he is upright, he can only be displaced from 
a wish to oppress merit, to encourage crime, 


261 


and in order always to have iniquitous judges. 
If he is guilty, why conceal his guilt from 
the eye of the public ? Why not convict him 
regularly, and afford in his punishment an 
example to others, which may induce them 
to avoid similar errors; make them abhor all 
prevarication ; and may engage them to love 
uprightness and justice? But were this so, 
you could no longer delude the Prince, ex¬ 
alt the unworthy, and degrade the well deserv¬ 
ing. This indeed is the most painful and ef¬ 
fective sacrifice to be made; but by you only ; 
and merely nominally by the Sovereign : a 
sacrifice however of the utmost possible ad¬ 
vantage to the state. 

The second supposed sacrifice required of 
the prince, is that he can no longer make 
laws on the bare proposal of his counsellors ; 
and can only approve or reject those proposed 
by Parliament. What does this imply ? A 
translation of his trust; or a cession of his 
power ? A new acquisition of light upon the 
subject; or a loss of power in the Sovereign ? 
Is it pretended by this system that the prince 


262 


should rely on wiser and less suspected coun¬ 
sellors ; or that his counsels should be ren¬ 
dered devoid of truth and reason? That his 
Ministers • should act the part of prudent 
statesmen, in union with the people’s illus¬ 
trious representatives, and in the view of the 
whole nation ; or that they should act by 
themselves alone, and in the dark ? What is 
thereby intended ? Nothing certainly but to 
oblige them to study the interests of virtue, 
and the country, not those of caprice : but to 
train them to seek the advantage of the So¬ 
vereign, not to betray him: but to make 
them love clearness in every thing; not more 
to court confusion and darkness, in order to 
hide the truth and to oppress the state. If 
this, gentlemen counsellors, seems but a 
small matter to you, tell us, moreover, on 
what grounds are we to believe you the most 
infallible, the most artassic of men ; super- 
excellently virtuous, the tutelary geniuses of 
the people, and the true palladium of the 
public safety ? We are assured of this beyond 
a doubt by the facts narrated; by your 
wish to act always in the dark ; by the aver- 


263 


sion which you shew to all assistance from 
others, and copartnership; by the hatred 
you entertain to the constitution; which,in 
fine, only offers to lend you the knowledge 
of the wise, and the best instructed in the 
kingdom on its means, resources, and wants ; 
to enable you thereby to judge rightly, to 
look forward with prudent foresight, and to 
act with sure success. 

The remaining sacrifice is, that the Sove¬ 
reign cannot of himself levy troops, nor lay 
on taxes; and that he must oblige his Minis¬ 
ter of finance to give an account to Parlia¬ 
ment of the manner in which the public 
money is administered. 

One may answer the proposed query, on 
attending to the following observations. 
Every government may find itself placed in 
ordinary or extraordinary circumstances. In 
ordinary circumstances, the compleon of 
the civil list is quite sufficient. In the con¬ 
stitutional system the Sovereign is perfectly 


i 


264 


furnished with all such necessary means. 
Then he makes no sacrifice in adopting 
an establishment, which, in the regular 
position of the state, provides him with every 
thing necessary. 

Extraordinary circumstances in the next 
place, as they create great wants, and occa¬ 
sion consequences of the highest importance ; 
it is necessary that the government secure 
ways and means the most proper for avoiding 
those that are hurtful, for meeting those that 
are inevitable, for not losing the favourable 
ones, as well as profiting of the opportunities 
which they present: and it is also equally 
clear that the system which can best suc¬ 
ceed in these respects, must be the most 
honourable one for the Sovereign, and the 
most advantageous one for his kingdom. 
If, therefore, the constitutional one can 

afford to your present prince such an advan- 

* * 

tageous aptitude, instead of forcing him to 
make sacrifices, it secures his authority, 
constitutes his glory and enhances the splen¬ 
dour of his throne. 


265 


Say then, gentlemen counsellors, will your 
King be more apt to realize this by exposing 
himself to the conflict of the basest passions, 
while directed by occult and double-dealing 
assessors ; or by acting with a view to the 
public good, in the sight of the whole nation 
and of its enlightened representatives ; always 
regulating his conduct in the most important 
affairs according to their knowledge and 
experience. Who have shewn most on past 
emergencies such an aptness in governing ; 
The King of England, or the other European 
Princes ? Who induced that nation to make 
the greatest exertions ? Who obtained the most 
powerful reinforcements ? Who cut the least 
awkward figure ? Who appeared with still 
growing splendour in the face of Europe ? Ye 
dark agents of Erebus ! Ye gloomy satellites 
of delusion ! Contemplate this parallel, and 
tell us now, if you dare, that your Monarch/ 
is the loser, and must make sacrifices^ by 
adopting a system that places him in so im¬ 
posing and advantageous an attitude. Tell 
us .... . . No, say rather whether the pro¬ 
jected establishment afflicts you the more on 

S 



266 


account of the ascendant which it gives your 
Sovereign ; or of the thraldom to which it in¬ 
fallibly subjects your caprice; whether it 
torments you, because your prince, no more 
exposed to be led astray by your false and 
ruinous measures, is less subject to fail in his 
undertakings ; or because you thus lose the 
means and opportunities of betraying him ; 
of holding forth your influence to sale; of 
favouring the enemy's interest; of impo¬ 
verishing the nation; of degrading it; 
and turning all things topsey turvey in it? 
Does it grieve you at being obliged to ac¬ 
count to Parliament for the administration of 
the public finances ? It is admitted that they , 
whose deeds are evil , hate the light. It were 
not possible for you, under such an order of 
things, to dilapidate so freely the substance of 
the poor; nor to sanction the public plunder¬ 
ings of your favourites. The state could thus 
be no longer exposed to bankruptcies, nor the 
Sovereign obliged to have recourse to means 
the most ruinous to his people; the least satis¬ 
factory to himself; but affording endless re¬ 
sources to those who counsel him. It were not 
possible *.. . . But yes, it is very possible, 


267 


and even a duty to be performed at all risks, 
both for the advantage of princes and sub¬ 
jects, to unmask deceit and expose hypo¬ 
crisy ; which, for the scourge of humanity, 
and to the disgrace of vour Monarch, are still 
maintained so high in office. ( 135 ) 

Political Transformation. 

Sire, In mythology, we read of metamor¬ 
phoses the most astonishing. We notice daily 
in natural history the most beautiful phases. 
In philosophy the transformation of bodies is 
discussed. Pythagoras cried up his metemp- 
sicosis. The Old Testament relates the trans¬ 
formation of a Nebuchadnezzer ; and the 
Ne w the Redeemer's glorious transfigura¬ 
tion. In diplomacy, however, it has never 
yet been heard of that Sovereigns, without 
changing their form, may alter their figure. 
It was in vou, Sire, that, for the first time has 
been admired a phenomenon, not less new, 
than interesting in politics. From Ferdinand 
the fourth you are changed to Ferdinand the 
first : and of the three Ferdinands , your pre¬ 
decessors, of all their actions, and yours be- 

s 2 


268 


fore the year 1815, a most singular medley 
and hodgepodge is made. 

Ferdinand the fourth was a constituted 
King; and his kingdom, (where the succes¬ 
sion to the crown was hereditary) passed in 
succession to the first born. 

Ferdinand the first is a new King, free to 
act ad libitum , and to dispose at pleasure of 
his dominions. 

As soon as it was proclaimed that Ferdi¬ 
nand the fourth was become Ferdinand the 
first; the constitution of Sicily was abolished: 
that island was stripped of its ancient privi¬ 
leges ; and your first-born, the legitimate 
heir apparent of your kingdom, was not a 
little thwarted, and his life even exposed. 

It would appear from all this that the pro¬ 
claimed change of your title was not merely 
accidental; and that your political transform¬ 
ation had perhaps before hand some pur¬ 
posed tendency to such events. But in chang- 


c 269 


ing so the destiny of the kingdom, must not 
you also, Sire, undergo a considerable change? 
Are you no longer therefore, that free and in¬ 
dependent Sovereign, which you were at first? 
Why so new a proceeding ? or what can it 
indicate? according to Newton's axiom, Non 
sunt rnultiplicanda eniia sine necessitate; Beings 
are not to be multiplied without necessity : 
and if your assessors, on the point under con¬ 
sideration, did not mean to make you contra¬ 
dict this principle; they then in effect de¬ 
clared that your political transformation was 
absolutely necessary for realizing the end 
thereby proposed. They therefore affirmed 
that Ferdinand the fourth ought not, and 
could not be fit for accomplishing that end ; 
and that Ferdinand the first had been nomi¬ 
nated for the purpose of overturning all that 
Ferdinand the fourth had established : Con¬ 
sequently that either all that this last had 
done was unworthy of the throne, and op¬ 
pressive to the people; or that all what the 
former was wishing to do, was against the 
interests of his subjects, and unjustly eclipsed 

s 3 


i 


270 


the glory of his real predecessor, though no¬ 
minal successor. 

Sire, which of the two mentioned Ferdi¬ 
nands, the fourth and first, will he in the 
right? To what can the difference of their 
principles be ascribed ? Or rather can any 
difference exist between perfidy, stupidity 
and bad faith, and persons so identified with 
these vices as your actual Ministers are ? Is it 
possible to divide from their mischievous de¬ 
sign already explained, of oppresing your 
people, that of so subjecting your Majesty to 
the most degrading figure, and of inducing 
you to take the most antipolitical steps pos¬ 
sible, in order to make you forfeit for ever 
both your kingdom and your honour? So 
much did they accomplish, Sire ; and this now 
your other advisers would wish to accomplish 
also. In the past, they had nothing else at 
heart, but to engage you in the most prepos¬ 
terous measures ; to humble you as much as 
possible; to continue to oppress your sub¬ 
jects, and thus to destroy your power : they 


271 


wished but to betray your friends, and your 
most distinguished protectors, in order to 
promote the interests of the common adver¬ 
sary. Their whole endeavours at present are 
to render your sway oppressive to those of 
your people who are the most attached to 
you; to engage you in acts the most opposed 
to the prosperity of your subjects, and to the 
honour of the Allied Sovereigns ; nor have 
they in all this any other view but to make 
Europe deplore the loss of Napoleon; to re¬ 
gret his system ; to favour his influence ; to 
promote his wishes; and to make the people 
look with a jealous eye upon the conduct of 
their princes. There is not, Sire, an act so 
conducive to the glory of Bonaparte as 
that of humbling and debasing those, who 
had always opposed him, and frustrated his 
attempts. This is what your assessors are 
just now doing. This is the most effectual 
means to excite discord in Europe, and to 
compromise your existence together with that 
of the other Sovereigns. From such princi¬ 
ples behold the consequences that must fol¬ 
low. You have experienced them in the 


i 


2 ? 2 


past; but you alone then suffered, as alone 
exposed to the malignant influence of such 
principles. You may now be sensible of this 
truth, on reflecting on the observations 
hitherto submitted to you. Facts will not be 
wanting to confirm it, if the reasons of ana- 
logy, which here follow, should not prevail 
upon you to open at length your eyes, and 
behold the brink of that precipice to which 
you have been dragged ; and towards which 
you yourself are so thoughtlessly hastening. 

Parallel drawn between the Principles and the 
Consequences observed in Spain ; between the 
System already adopted there , and the Ef¬ 
fect sit is likely to produce on the Two Sicilies. 

Sire, among the principles acknowledged 
for certain by philosophers, there is the fol¬ 
lowing one : The same causes always produce 
the same effects . What were the causes which 
have just produced in Spain the change of the 
government? They were the following : Per¬ 
fidy , bigotry , and the stupidity of those who 
counselled the Monarch : the cheats put upon 


273 


the Prince ; and the improved state of civili¬ 
zation, in which his subjects now find them¬ 
selves . 

What is the actual state of your people • 
What is the character, what the drift of those, 
who now counsel you? What the position of 
your Majesty ? All in the exactest identity 
possible. Deign only to attend to the matter, 
and you will find it to be so. The influence 
of the French Ruler, in the late emergencies, 
had surrounded with his secret agents the 
actual Monarch of Spain. They, alw'ays 
anxious to promote the interests and the glory 
of their liberal Mecenas, had rendered their 
prince a mere organ to be played upon by 
others ; and which yielded only the tune that 
Bonaparte liked best to hear. Thus deluded 
and misguided, that Sovereign listened no 
more to the voice of his real friends, who in 
vain strove to free him from so fatal an illusion. 
He remained deluded, and, compelled thus to 
make a most pitiful figure in the eye of Eu¬ 
rope, he was reduced to the most distressing 
and hopeless situation. His heroic nation, 


274 


indignant at finding itself so unworthily sold, 
and betrayed, resolved, as if in spite of himself, 
to replace him on his throne. Its dauntless 
courage, its constancy, and the sacrifices it 
cheerfully as spontaneously made ; the assis¬ 
tance also and co-operation of that high and 
mighty power, which never refused its help¬ 
ing hand to the oppressed, and is always 
ready to support the weak against the strong ; 
as well as the stupenduous talents of that il¬ 
lustrious Duke, whom it entrusted with the 
command of its armies ; succeeded at last in 
bringing back to his capital the exiled Mo¬ 
narch. The Ruler of France, finding himself 
under the necessity of surrendering him up, 
endeavoured to profit of the very misfortune, 
to which he had reduced him ; and on liberat¬ 
ing him, whom he could no longer detain his 
prisoner, he compelled him to swear friend¬ 
ship to him ; and at the same time persuaded 
him to follow the advice of those who had 
formerly assisted him. As soon as his Catho¬ 
lic Majesty had reached his capital, he 
thought himself bound to fulfil the engage¬ 
ment he had contracted in his French prison ; 


275 


and therefore trusted himself to those whom 
he thought his friends, but who were his real 
enemies, and the enemies of his people. 
Their only object was to enhance the glory of 
their occult protector, while they imposed 
upon their prince, and induced him to act 
wrong, merely in order to justify the treat¬ 
ment which Napoleon had shewn him. They 
strove, therefore, to render him ungrateful to 
his defenders, and to make him appear both 
silly and cruel. All they, who had so gene¬ 
rously supported his cause in his absence, 
were thus persecuted, imprisoned or banish¬ 
ed. The jesuits were recalled. The holy, or 
rather diabolical inquisition was re-established. 
The good were degraded ; the virtuous in¬ 
sulted ; the iniquitous exalted ; and Great 
Britain, that generous power, which had done 
so much for Spain and its prince, saw itself 
the most traduced, thwarted and abhorred. 

Could an enlightened and observing peo¬ 
ple, whose courage had been exalted, in spite 
of the restrictions on the press of their own 
country ; but who noticed every thing in the 


976 * 


public and independant journals of the other 
kingdoms, remain longer in the humiliating 
situation, in which they were placed ? The 
revolt of the American colonies was the first 
fruit of such an ill advised conduct. Such an 
event ought to have opened the eyes of that 
prince on his return back to his kingdom. 
But the wicked, who closely besieged him, 
and made him look at every thing through 
the prism of their own opinion, prevented 
this from happening. His people therefore 
had recourse to more violent remedies. The 
ferment had already extended itself all over 
the kingdom; when at length it fully broke 
out. Then did the prince in fine perceive 
the deluded state in which he was placed. 
The inquisition, bigotry, and perfidy were 
discarded. The wishes of his people gratified, 
and the change of government effected with a 
calmness, that truly does honour to the heroic 

and generous character of the Spanish nation, 

- 

one so worthy of the highest destinies. 

Happy her prince, if he continues, in union 
with his people, to study with his own in- 


m 


terests those of his kingdom ; to root out hy¬ 
pocrisy, bigotry and perfidy from his domi¬ 
nions ; and, according to the constitutional 
system already approved of, to substitute 
patriotism and the social virtues that ac¬ 
company it, in their stead! The American 
colonies, which refused obedience to an op¬ 
pressive government, will rejoice now to unite 
once more with their fellow countrymen un¬ 
der a liberal system of reciprocal advantage. 
Hesperia will soon perceive her growing po¬ 
pulation, and will become the refuge of the 
unjustly persecuted and oppressed ; while 
her prince, assisted by the wise, by real 
citizens, will find himself seated on a nobler 
throne, more majestic and secure ; enriched 
with more permanent resources, and with far 
more abundant means, than ever he could 
formerly boast of. 

Sire, In the past emergencies you threw 
yourself into the arms of your actual coun¬ 
sellors. What figure did your government 
then make ? Remember what Napoleon 
said of it. Think how weak the force was, 


which you mustered ; how limited your abi¬ 
lities were ; how few the resources, which you 
were able to draw from the nation subjected 
to you. 

What figure did your government make in 
Sicily ? While the sound of it cannot yet have 
ceased singing in your ear, is it possible, Sire, 
that you should not at least remember it ? 
What is your government at present ? Con¬ 
template it in the strictures upon it which 
are here submitted to you. Those, most at¬ 
tached to you, are oppressed. They are de¬ 
prived of the favours conceded to them. 
They are stripped of their ancient privileges. 
The perfidious, the sacrilegious calumniators 
of your honour; they who endeavoured to 
support the cause of Napoleon ; to betray the 
measures of your friends ; to ruin your Ma¬ 
jesty for ever, and mar the interests of the 
Allied Sovereigns ; they, who are heaping all 
their own infamy on your royal shoulders; 
are the only ones who now triumph ; placed 
as they are at the head of the government of 
your kingdom : while those who have deserved - 


279 


well of their country, of your Majesty, of 
the Allies and of Great Britain, are made the 
butt of their hatred. The acts of the Euro¬ 
pean Princes are opposed; and their virtue 
insulted. The greatest ingratitude is shewn 
to your most distinguished protectors. The 
Free Masons and Carbonarians, that is, the 
most powerful subjects in your kingdom, are 
persecuted. Espionage , the wildest bigotry, 
and the most shameless hypocrisy, are exalted 
beyond all measure. Arbitrary imprison¬ 
ments, and banishments, ignotd causd , are 
authorized and protected. The very perso¬ 
nal security of the citizen, if not quite for¬ 
feited, is too clearly compromised; and rivalry 
and faction, the first principles of anarchy, 
are fomented. If all these acts do not 
tend to exalt the glory of the late Ruler of 
France; to favour the interest of your ene¬ 
my ; to make you forfeit the confidence and 
the esteem, and to deprive you of all the 
assistance of the other Sovereigns, as well as 
of the affections of your own subjects ; what 
other facts, pray, can be better adapted for 
such a purpose ? 


280 


Be assured, Sire, this is the point, towards 
which the iniquitous and perfidious wretches, 
who are just now your counsellors, are driving 
you. If the prospect of all that is thence so 
naturally to be inferred, cannot rouse you : if 
the consideration of the fate of Spain be not 
sufficient to move you ; if the reflection that 
the same causes always produce the same effects , 
is incapable of determining you ; let at least 
the advice of the Divine Redeemer awaken 
you from your slumber. If your eye , says 
he, offend you, pluck it out and cast it from 
you ; and if all this is still not enough to in¬ 
duce your Majesty to remove so dire a scan¬ 
dal from you; let the sweet recollection that, 
while by the side of the faithful Tanucci , you 
were the delight of your children, and the 
real idol of the state ; that the hearts of your 
subjects overflowed with joy at beholding 
you, while all the other powers esteemed and 
respected you, suffice to do so. 

Sire, Your people long to see you such again. 
Such is also my most earnest wish ; impelled 


281 


by which, I cease not, nor will ever cease, |to 
implore the Most High to grant your Ma¬ 
jesty that grace so necessary to Sovereigns, 
which the royal prophet never ceased praying 
for : Domine da mihi intellectum , at vivam : 
and in spite of all the subterfuges of the 
wicked, 

I am, and ever remain, 

Your Majesty's 

most faithful and humble Subject, 

FRANCIS ROMEO. 





T 


















































































' 








































V 















































NOTES. 


















































































































. . 


































. 










































) 





























NOTES. 




t.. 




(1) On attending to the events that took place 
after the said marriage, one will easily perceive that 
not only the changes that happened in your own court 
and in that of Murat, were owing to that circumstance ; 
but that the vertiginous spirit which seized Bonaparte 
himself, originated in such an illustrious connection. 
The confidence with which it inspired Napoleon, made 
him consider himself as now perfectly secure. He 
therefore deemed it vain to fix his hopes elsewhere, and 
useless to follow up any further his wonted Machia- 
velisrn, on which he had till then entirely depended. 
Such a new order of ideas and principles developed in 
his character the passions, which in a manner dena¬ 
turalized his system; and to all his rare prudence and 
foresight succeeded the most marked imprudence and 
negligence. From that time forward he appeared less 
cautious in his enterprises; more arrogant in his lan¬ 
guage ; and too precipitate in his designs. His fellow 
warriors were insulted; his most distinguished mar¬ 
shals offended ; his chief minister despised ; and his 
own brother, whom he had made King of Holland, 

T 3 






•286 


humbled in the extreme. Murat was excessively irri¬ 
tated ; his war with Spain, was, in the most anti¬ 
political manner, carried on ; the Free Masons were 
too violently injured ; and his final misfortune was the 
consequence of his too great security. Thus the mar¬ 
riage he had lately contracted, exalting his confidence, 
occasioned his giving into all his ruinous measures. 

(2) The following facts will demonstrate the truth 
of what is here mentioned. 

( 3 ) The proof of these principles are the facts that 
followed them, and which are detailed in their several 

( 4 ) The circumstances here mentioned are so well 
known in your kingdom, that it would be bringing 
owls to Athens , to repeat them here, or take any fur¬ 
ther notice of them. 

( 5 ) The whole of what is mentioned in this para¬ 
graph, is already public in Naples and Calabria. There 
are living in Palma , Scilla , and at Pezzo some, who 
of beggars are become rich, with the clandestine traffic 
in colonial produce, carried on with the connivance of 
the Commanders at that time. The death of Saliceti , 
the incidents that accompanied it, and the changes 
that followed it, are most notorious. 

( 6) Nothing could be more public than this. The 
Sicilian journals dilated upon it; and the British Ga- 



287 


\ 

zette, published at Messina, mentioned the whole 
circumstance. 

( 7 ) This occasioned much rejoicing at Naples ; 
and the Sicilian papers were full of it. 

( 8 ) This was Bonaparte’s design, on his invading 
the kingdom of Naples : witness his proclamation 
issued on that occasion. 

(9) This was unanimously declared to be the case 
by the Sicilian Conspirators. It was manifested by 
them to the officer in the British service, whom I suc¬ 
ceeded in introducing to them, instead of the French 
envoy, whom they so anxiously expected, and had 
solicited, in order to examine* and decide upon the 
means they had made choice of, and were employing 
to revolutionize the island. This fact is proved by the 
earnest endeavours of your Ministry and collaterals to 
favour the designs of Bonaparte ; by the motives that 
separated Murat from Napoleon ; by the steps taken 
and executed on the occasion by Lord Wm. Bentinck ; 
by the necessity your late consort was under of quitting 
the island ; by the secret treaty between Murat and 
the British Plenipotentiary ; by the pretensions of your 
late competitor to the Marquisate of Ancona ; and by 
Austria claiming to herself his rights to that place, by 
the title of conquest, on her having defeated him. 

(10) These messages were so mysterious, that they 
called the attention of the British Commanders, and 
awakened their suspicions. 


288 


(11) Measures the most notorious. 

(12) A fact well known to the whole French army 
and to the English Generals then in Sicily ; and a fact 
that proves clearly Napoleon’s diffidence in Murat; 
and the original motives of their mutual disgust. 

(13) Murat’s conduct in Calabria in 1810, the ene¬ 
my’s army in sight on the above mentioned occasion, 
makes it quite clear to whoever attends to these inci¬ 
dents, that he had formed combinations at that time in 
concert with the British Commanders in Sicily. A our 
Ministry might well have perceived, or at least sus¬ 
pected it. 

(14) This circumstance, so known.to the two op¬ 
posite armies, does it not clearly prove that the said 
disembarkation, realized in the manner in which it was, 
had been previously combined and agreed upon, only 
in order to deceive Bonaparte, and thus to forward the 
interests of the new occult confederates ? 

(15) A circumstance so well known, shews suffici¬ 
ently the motives your Assessors had for acting as 
they did. Perhaps they wished at that time that the 
enemy should enter Sicily ; or that the English army, 
on finding itself exposed to such imminent danger, 
should determine on quitting your dominions. 

(16) This appears by Murat’s declaration, in which 
he orders his troops from Calabria. So obvious a 


289 


pretence shews the secret motives that influenced 
him. 

(17) The complaints made to your court by General 
Stuart, and the reports transmitted by him to his 
own government, towards the end of 1810, evidently 
prove these facts. 

(18) All the Conspirators against the British army 
in 1811, were the particular favourites at your court 
in 1810. They were also such in 1814, and they are 
still such at this present moment ! ! 

(19) The whole British army knew very well the 
reasons their commander had, for thus wishing to be 
recalled from his command : and the uniting in the 
person of his successor the political as well as military 
authority, shews what they were. 

(20) To be convinced of Murat’s intentions, so 
clearly manifested, it suffices to notice the difference 
of his style at that time used towards the English : 
His allowing in so friendly a manner a clandestine 
commerce to be carried on betwixt Sicily and Cala¬ 
bria ; the conduct also of Napoleon himself, in grant¬ 
ing superior powers in that province, to Lieut.-General 
Manhes, whom he not only rendered independent of 
Murat, but even destined to watch over his motions. 
Considering besides the conduct of Lord William 
Bentinck on that occasion ; the resolute manner, in 
which that noble Lord disposed with the greatest 


290 


ease, and realized with the utmost success, the most 
arduous and dangerous undertakings, demonstrates in 
the clearest manner possible, how matters then stood ; 
and shews evidently how much those were mistaken, 
who, as not in the secret, imagined his projects too 
daring, and his conduct rather rash and imprudent. 

(21) A fact so very well known, needs only here be 
hinted at. 

(22) This project was admitted in a court-martial ; 
and it were more than pyronism to doubt it. 

(23) The scarlet colour of these fish was the em¬ 
blematic signal used by the Conspirators in their cor¬ 
respondence ; and by which they alluded to the red 
uniform of the English army, against which they were 
plodding mischief. 

(24) What stupidity ! What perfidy ! I dare to 
stile it such ! Could the one be more clearly proved ; 
or the other be more evidently demonstrated ? These 
ruffians were in close correspondence with the enemy, 

\ as their letters intercepted prove. They had asked of 
General Manhes, an officer of high rank, in order the 
better to concert with him, and determine on the 
measures to be pursued. A sham correspondence w r as 
able to defeat the real one. A British officer was 
introduced to them as the wished-for envoy of Bona¬ 
parte; to whom they thought proper to confide their 
whole secret; and to make over to him a list of all the 


291 


heads of the conspiracy that were then dispersed all 
over Sicily. Stupendous wisdom ! sublime foresight 1 
incomparable merit! which so establish their right to 
hold, as they now do, the most distinguished situations 
in the state ! And, as for their perfidy, who can avoid 
seeing it, on only looking at the uninterrupted series 
of their wretched attempts ? 

(25) Let it be observed that General Manhes had 
received secret instructions, not known to Murat; on 
whom he was not dependant. But was in direct and 
full correspondence with Napoleon on the one hand, 
and with the Sicilian Conspirators on the other. 
That the secrets of your collaterals on the project in 
contemplation, were those also of the court at Paris ; 
and that your assessors had communicated them 
already to the heads of the Conspirators in Messina; 
charging them to see them executed; and to corres¬ 
pond with the officer destined to decide on the merits 
of their plan. It may be inferred from all this, whether 
the secrets of Napoleon, and those of your collaterals, 
in this affair, could have come or not under my know¬ 
ledge. 

(26) It were indeed needless for me here to enter 
into a minute detail of all the means I used in order 
to ascertain this fact; and to verify or clear up the 
suspicions already formed by the British commanders. 
It were equally needless to enumerate the expedients 
I was obliged to have recourse to, in order to distin¬ 
guish the designs, to make Certain of the correspon- 


292 


deuce, and to prevent the attempts of the above- 
mentioned Conspirators. It would be quite super¬ 
fluous to describe all the circumstances accompanying 
the stratagem, by which I was able to substitute the 
English officer, and make him pass with them for the 
much longed-for envoy of Bonaparte ; in which I 
succeeded, in spite of their open and uninterrupted 
correspondence with the enemy on the one hand, and 
with your most illustrious collaterals on the other. 
It will suffice merely to observe, that the plan pro¬ 
posed was completely realized ; and that your now 
so wise, so enlightened assessors, were then put 
under a course of henbane medicine, which so affected 
their optical nerves, and deranged the angles of their 
sight, that it made them see every thing double 
or reversed. 


Et solem duplicem , et duplicem se ostendere Thebam. 

A sham correspondence quite defeated the purpose 
of the real one : and, though furnished by some un¬ 
known fatality with the easiest means of discovering 
the trick put upon them, these so prudent politicians 
were not able then to distinguish the shadow from the 
substance. They embraced a cloud for a Juno ; and 
a British officer was welcomed by them, as Napoleon’s 
envoy ; reverenced as such, and admitted by them 
without any scruple or delay, to the full knowledge of 
their most hidden mysteries ! Wisdom! prudence ! 


293 


penetration ! judgment! If you want an empty seat, 
hasten to occupy the vacant one ready for you in the 
incomparable brain of the illustrious quadrupeds, 
whom industrious perfidy has placed so close to the 
throne on the banks of the Sehetus ! 


(27) This list, written and signed by the conspira¬ 
tors themselves ; and, in order to make it pass safely 
into the hands of Bonaparte, consigned to the sup¬ 
posed French envoy; passed, however, into my 
hands, instead of those of the one for whom it was 
designed. It was presented to the Quarter-Master- 
General Donkin, Lieut.-General Maitland, and Lord 
William Bentinck; and, after having been produced 
at the court-martial, and copied into the public jour¬ 
nals ; it was publicly burned ; which circumstance 
made the magnanimity and foresight of those British 
commanders shine forth the more conspicuous by thus 
removing from your subjects every motive of sus¬ 
picion, dislike, and diffidence, in their own regard ; 
and they thus made themselves be the more admired, 
esteemed, and beloved by all. 

(28) This was the plan arranged by the conspirators 
of Messina and General Manhes, in concert with 
Napoleon. The existence of this plan was acknow¬ 
ledged by the secret commission of the British Army ; 
and of this very plan the conspirators themselves had 
spoken to the above mentioned British officer. 


294 


(29) Manner in which the French army was to 
have effected their landing in Sicily , and in which 
all the English were to have been massacred . 

By a gradually anticipated movement, all the gun¬ 
boats on the coast of Naples and Calabria, and the 
troops in the kingdom, were to have met at the same 
point of time at the place destined for their embarkation, 
in order to take by surprize the Pharo of Messina ; 
and thus by shutting up those streights, and rendering 
them inaccessible to ships of war, to reduce all Sicily 
under a military form, to a kind of peninsula, so as to 
be influenced by all the disposeable forces in France 
and Italy. 

In the very act of the above mentioned attempt, the 
conspirators against the English, apprized by signals 
mutually agreed upon, were all to have met at Mes¬ 
sina at the same time, and in conjunction with those on 
the spot, to have snrprized the English residing in the 
place, together with the British Garrison stationed 
there ; and to have dispatched them in their lodgings 
and quarters, where they were quietly living, without 
any dread or suspicion of danger. 

The Sicilian flotilla, apparently combined with the 
English one, in the act of opening their fire upon the 
enemy, were to tack about, and attacking the English 
flotilla in the rear, to join the French. The Sicilian 
laud forces were to act in the same manner against the 
English quartered in the towns and forts, and the 
enemy in the mean time was to have multiplied his 
attacks at various points, and to have extended as much 
as possible his forces in every direction. 


295 


(29) From motives of that delicacy, which so cha¬ 
racterizes great and generous minds, and which makes 
them forbear exposing the villainy of those, by whom 
they have been injured or insulted, Lord William 
Bentinck, did not think proper to allow me to publish 
the official documents of the correspondence and com¬ 
binations that took place in Sicily. It is not however 
from this circumstance alone that the truth of the above 
mentioned particulars is to be learned. It will appear 
clearly from the acts themselves of his Lordship, from 
those of Murat, and from the very conduct of your own 
government. If not from the a priore statement 
alluded to, it must evidently be confirmed from the 
a posteriore one ; and had not such an understanding 
subsisted between the parties concerned, as the one 1 
have mentioned, neither Murat, nor Lord William 
Bentick, nor your Majesty, could have acted in the way 
you did ; and which your whole kingdom and all 
Europe have witnessed. 

(30) I must here frankly confess that it would have 
been impossible for me to have obtained the evidence 
had, of the designs of your favourites and collaterals, 
in concert with the French ruler, had Murat been 
really willing to have seconded Bonaparte ; and had 
he not been at that time instigated by powerful reasons 
to facilitate the obtaining of the above mentioned in¬ 
telligence by the British commanders. 

(31) This person, as the witness of the concerted 
plan between Bonaparte and your assessors, was de- 


296 


tained, and shut up in the fort of Palermo; where he 
durst declare, what would horrify those who heard it. 

(32) He was degraded from his military rank, and 
strangled as a felon. 

(33) Such a proceeding should clear up the reality of 
the attempt in question. It augmented the suspicions, 
and increased the doubts conceived by Murat; and 
alieneated him still more from Bonaparte. This proved 
clearly to your Majesty the stupidity, the incapacity, 
and the silly and weak perfidy of such iniquitous con¬ 
spirators ; of such sacrilegious calumniators; and 
served to undeceive you ; which circumstance if you 
deign to recollect, was the effective means of replacing 
you on the throne of your ancestors : it was what dis¬ 
sipated every illusion, and made every one evidently 
perceive the energy,vigilance, and wisdom of the British 
representatives, till then thought so short sighted 
by the above mentioned conspirators. 

(34) The effect proved the cause; and made you 
see what sort of interest these wretches took in your 
honour. It ought also to prove to you that their en¬ 
deavours to forward the above mentioned enterprize, 
were made only with a view to ruin you ; to sell you 
over to the common enemy, but not to assist and make 
you recover your lost kingdom. This fact also, by the 
law of contraries, ought to convince you that they were 
the British Commanders only, and their real friends, 


i 


297 


who secured your most sacred interests and those of 
the country. 

N. B.—No. 28 ought to be at page 20 line 3. 


29 — 

— 

— do. — 

6 

30 — 

— 

— do.— 

11 

31 — 

— 

— do. — 

17 

32 — 

— 

— do. — 

18 

33 — 

— 

— 21 — 

15 


The first No. 34 of the notes, is referred to page 21,line 24, 
of the text. 

(34) Sire, please only to remember the circumstance. 
This was one of the easiest matters to have been ac¬ 
complished. Your subjects supported it. The enemy 
favoured it. Among* your familiars there were also 
some, who wished for it : but British generosity would 
not hear of it. Among all the English there was not 
one, who had approved of the arrest of the Spanish 
Monarch. Great Britain had enlightened, and never 
ceased to assist the deluded and humbled princes : 
and that illustrious plenipotentiary other’s, instead of 
seeking your ruin, sought only to save you. 

(35) Had it not been for Lord Bentinck, either 
you would not now be a Sovereign ; or at any rate, 
you would not be looked upon as that upright and 
faithful Sovereign which now you are. 

(36) Your Majesty cannot have forgotten these 
facts, as they were all your own. 

(37) Had not the British army been so cordially 
and efficaciously seconded by the Sicilians, it w ould 

U 


298 


have been placed in too critical a situation, and on 
more occasions than one, completely destroyed : nor 
would its Commander in Chief have ever ventured to 
have attempted, what he so easily and successfully 
accomplished. If this army then was so favoured and 
seconded by your subjects ; what else could have so 
secured to it their attachment, but the rational and 
wise conduct of its Chief ? 

( 38) Those perfidious wretches, who besieged you, 
and who for your misfortune, are still placed by your 
side, doing all the mischief imaginable to the people 
subjected to your sway ; had forced these to become 
quite disgusted with your government. Lord Bentinck, 
by persuading you to grant them that constitutional sys¬ 
tem, which was so well calculated to supply all their 
wants, and to secure for ever their rights to them, had 
succeeded in reconciling them to your Majesty, and 
your Majesty’s government. 

(39) Sire, if this has never struck you before, reflect 
upon it now. It was your late consort’s departure 
from Sicily ; it was the arrest and condemnation of the 
conspirators of Messina and Palermo ; it was the spon¬ 
taneous declarations of these made in an open court 
martial ; and the changes, which were then seen to 
take place in your government; that confirmed Murat 
iu the belief of the effective combinations existing be¬ 
tween your favourites and the French Ruler ; of the 
promises made by him to your late consort ; and of 
the necessity he would see himself unavoidably reduced 
to, of restoring to you the kingdom of Naples, which 


299 


he held so dear ; and it was, in fact, this belief and 
persuasion, that alienated him from Napoleon ; that, 
contributed so much to the downfall of both ; and that 
replaced you on the throne of your ancestors : for all 
which, or in great measure at least, you are indebted 
to the prudence, generosity and good faith of Lord 
Wm. Bentinck , and to the truly illustrious and emi¬ 
nently wise conduct of Lieutenants General Maitland , 
Donkin and Campbell ; who so ably seconded the ex¬ 
alted views of that noble Lord, and contributed so 
much to the final overthrow of your real enemies, and 
to the political changes which took place in Europe. 

(40) Bonaparte’s flattering promises, and Murat’s 
idea of disclosing the combinations formed between 
your court and that of Paris, had certainly for object 
to divide your cause from that of Great Britain, and 
thus to weaken both parties. The wisdom, however, 
of the British representative knew so well to parry this 
subterfuge, that after having entirely defeated it, he 
made use of it with the greatest success, to divide 
Murat from Napoleon, and thus to ruin both of them. 

(41) To deny this fact, it were necessary to deny 
first your own existence, that of your actual Ministers 
and counsellors, that of the British Plenipotentiary at 
the time, and of every English general, employed in 
1811 in Sicily. 

In order to perceive how very much the re-exalta- 
tion of the above mentioned Conspirators had been me¬ 
rited, it suffices only to reflect on the able manner in 
which they effected their purpose, and on the object 

u 2 


300 


they had in view iii forwarding it. To be convinced 
therefore of all that Murat had contributed towards 
the discovery of the English commanders from 
the discovery of their treachery, and the delivery 
of the English commanders from the snares 
which your collaterals were tending to the Bri¬ 
tish army, it is more than sufficient to observe the 
change in Murat’s conduct towards the English; 
the distrust which he thereby excited in Napoleon ; 
and Lord Wm. Bentinck’s own conduct on the occa¬ 
sion. If that noble Lord had not been perfectly aware 
of Murat’s intentions, could he ever have induced you 
to decimate your army, and to allow the officers dis¬ 
missed to go over to Calabria, and enter the service of 
your adversary ? How much may be gathered from this 
fact alone ! It then appears that Lord Bentinck had 
more reason to confide in Murat than in your govern¬ 
ment ; or, at any rate, it is clear that by this strata¬ 
gem he intended keeping up the illusion, and augmen¬ 
ting still more and more the suspicions of your rival. 

(42) Sire, the facts here stated, are existing ; and 
form many of your own proper decrees still in force. 

*. » 4 : C\ V i'j's. V. .i 4 y 7 

(43) Remember, Sire, what Bonaparte said of 
your government; what Murat also declared concern¬ 
ing it ; and what those induced you to do, who are 
now your advisers. The consequences thence derived, 
are clearly discussed and set forth in the w ork. 

(44) From the effects to their cause : This is the 
best way to discover the truth ; and to dissipate at 


301 


once all illusion. Weigh well the facts that have 
taken place ; and you will find, Sire, who is the real 

friend of your Majesty ; and who your most dangerous 
foe. 

(45) The vessels had put to sea ! How much, Sire, 
may be inferred from such a circumstance! Deism 

o 

only to consider it. 

(46) A fact, and a fact, which was on the point of 
being put into execution ; the consequences of which 
might have been very different from those expected. 

(47) Cruelty and barbarity never were accounted 
virtues. 

(48) The whole country knows this to be a fact. 
\ our Ministry thought fit to imprison me in the same 
fort, where Murat had been shot. I saw the marks of 
his blood. I was fully informed of the conversations 
that took place between Murat and the English vice- 
consul, by the nephew of this last, who was there con¬ 
fined with me. Salvatore Carullo, the keeper of that 
fort, related faithfully to me all that was said and done 
on that occasion. It is thus that I have been enabled 
to assert these facts. 

(49) It were much to be wished that this report 
were exposed to your Majesty : It might help to un¬ 
deceive you. 

(50) This may still be seen by the very acts fabri¬ 
cated against Murat. 

u 3 


302 


(51) The above mentioned commission was com¬ 
posed of the criminal procurator of Montileone. Gio¬ 
vanni la Camera ; of the president, Signor Valeri ; of 
three criminal judges on the one side, and of General 
Fasulo, and several other officers of his staff, on the 
other. All the above mentioned judges owed their 
situations to Murat. 

(52) This singular fact, which may well shew the 
design of the one who promoted it, appears among the 
acts of Murat’s condemnation. 

(53) This report was spread abroad in every place. 

(54) No body can question the sensibility of your 
own heart, and the interest you have always taken in 
behalf of the unfortunate. Your iniquitous assessors 
have endeavoured to mar all its benefic influence, 
keeping you constantly removed from public concerns, 
and always striving to keep you completely in the 
dark, as to the wants of your people. On the occa¬ 
sion alluded to, those, who now counsel you, were ex¬ 
tremely interested in doing so. They had to make all 
the haste possible, in order to screen themselves from an 
imputation which might have proved fatal to them, and 
would have unmasked them once more. 

(55) From the complaints made to your Ministry 
by Lieutenant General Stewart; and from the cold¬ 
ness observed between the British representatives and 


303 


your government towards the end of 1810 ; your Ma¬ 
jesty may perceive the truth of the above assertion. 


(56) The dilemma can only be contradicted in one 
of its points : and when one is denied, its contrary is 
affirmed. 

(61) Behold the real motive that obliged your 
Ministers to rid themselves so hastily of the one, who 
had formerly ruined them, and who now would have 
fairly unmasked them. 

(62) The principles here advanced are but as many 
axioms in Dialectics . 

(63) What an important difference between Murat 
in 1810, considered as the aggressive invader of your 
dominions ; and what he appeared in 1815, when it was 
given out that he intended to re-usurp your kingdom ! 
And how worthy of admiration is not the attachment 
and zeal of your assessors for the interests of your 
Majesty, and those of the state, on considering the 
favours conferred by them on his agents of 1810 ; the 
atrocious manner in which they treated this Sovereign; 
the remunerations, which at the same time they 
granted to his former assistants ; and the persecutions 
and insults, to which, at the same time, they subjected 
those, who had all along opposed and thwarted him ! 

(64) Either the prudence and foresight of these 


304 


your counsellors is much of a kin to that observed in 
quadrupeds ; or the identity of the effects must here 
unfold the true origin of their proceedings. 


(65) Reason is the attribute of man ; only instinct 
is that of quadrupeds. Yet this last, if not blinded 
by the base passions, might so far be able to act right. 
But in the man quadruped, the base passions are 
always exalted, in proportion as good sense is de¬ 
pressed. 

(66) Every one knows how inimical that city always 
was to the French. At the battle of Maida the Piz- 
zitans rendered the most important service to the 
British army. 

(67) If these data , in themselves undeniable, are 
admitted ; one must likewise admit that Murat, in 
the imagining, and in the endeavouring to realize the 
proposed project, either must have been mad, and de¬ 
served only to have been sent to Anticyra in quest of 
hellebore ; or else that he was betrayed and seduced, 
on which account his seducers were more deserving of 
punishment then he himself was; or finally, that he 
never had the least idea of stirring up Calabria to 
revolt. As no punishment was inflicted on his se¬ 
ducers, we leave it to the supereminent wisdom of your 
Ministry to judge from this very circumstance of its 
own deeds. 


305 


(68) An effect can never exist without a cause ; and 
according to Wolfius’s principles, the effect must al¬ 
ways hold a corresponding proportion with its 
cause. 

(69) The foregoing proposition is explained by the 
observations already made ; and by the very nature of 
the fact itself. 

(70) Let the proposed data only be attended to ; 
and they will confirm my assertion. 

(71) By striving to make you insult your friends, to 
make you appear ungrateful to your protectors ; and to 
hold you forth as unworthy of the favours, the esteem 
and confidence ; and on the contrary, deserving of 
the detestation of every other Sovereign 

(72) Views too clearly evinced by the aforesaid prin¬ 
ciples ; and which will appear evident, if examined 
through Wolfius’s telescope ; that is to say, if we ad¬ 
mit that the cause corresponds with its effect: and if 
we allow that contrary effects can never depend upon 
the same cause. 

(73) How much might not a corollary, derived from 
such known principles, explain ! 

(74) If every effect must exactly correspond with 
its cause ; if the zeal of your Ministers had sought by 
putting Murat to death, to consult the interests of your 


306 


Majesty ; to destroy iniquity, and to punish the pro¬ 
moters of anarchy ; why did these same Ministers of 
yours so very often betray both yourself and your 
people? Why do they still seek to discredit you so? 
Why, at the very time that they punished Murat as a 
disturber of the public peace, did they exalt so high 
the most notorious revolutionists ? And why did they 
not begin by themselves to shew the example of dislike 
to perfidy ? If these facts prove the contrary of what 
were necessary to demonstrate the existence of the 
principle sought for, the effect in question cannot be 
supposed derived from such a principle. It is there¬ 
fore truly produced by the principle mentioned in the 
above paragraph. 

(75) If the facts, principles and data hitherto laid 
down, suffice not to prove my assertion ; and should 
your collaterals, and their gloomy supporters, who have 
hitherto so favoured them, think of denying it ; we, 
who are ever ready to follow them, through all their 
subterfuges, will consider it as our most sacred duty to 
maintain it, and to make it appear to all in its clearest 
light. 

(76) Que male ayit, odit lucem. This only reason, 
or that of supposing the Allied Sovereigns unjust, un¬ 
wise, and but the false friends of your Majesty, could 
have occasioned such precipitancy in the judgment 
passed upon Murat. 

(77) Your Ministers and actual assessors, were 


307 


never, Sire, so overpowered with modesty, as that 
they should decline courting admiration for the tran¬ 
scendent wisdom which distinguishes them. Had 
their conduct been honourable, and their foresight 
truly admirable, why not openly boast of both, and 
leave your rival to the decision of the Allied Princes ? 
This was a fine opportunity for setting off the dignity 
of their proceedings ; the wisdom, with which they 
caught Murat in their net, and the ease with which 
they could prove his guilt. 

(78) If, in the forementioned case, all was not done, 
which is mentioned in the preceding number ; your 
counsellors have at least realized what in this number 
is specified. 

(79) What then obliged them so to hasten Murat’s 
trial and sentence ? Nothing but the dread that he 
might unmask all their perfidy; or the want of suffi¬ 
cient evidence to convict him. 

(80) What ? the most evident contrariety betwixt 
their hearts and yours ; betwixt the qualities of your 
mind and those of their tenebrific dispositions; the 
diversity of their designs ; the difference of their mo¬ 
tives, and the opposition of their wishes. 

(81) This demonstrates the immense difference be¬ 
twixt the principle, conduct and character of those em¬ 
ployed by the British government; and those of your 
actual assessors. It shews what reason these last 
had to abhor so much the former ; and it shews how 


308 


deservedly the first were insulted and depressed, and 
the last so glorified and now held worthy of esteem. 

(82) If one attends to all that has been said con¬ 
cerning the British officer, substituted for the envoy 
of Bonaparte ; and to the way, in which was obtained 
from the conspirators themselves the list of their cor¬ 
respondents, and the most sincere declaration of their 
designs ; the truth of what has been before mentioned, 
will appear evident. 

(83) You need only on this particular call to mind 
the facts acknowledged in the court martial, and the 
successive operations of your government. 

(84) And at the moment when all was fraught with 
danger, in 1811. 

(85) These facts, so well known to the whole king¬ 
dom, cannot but demonstrate either the most marked 
stupidity of your assessors, who while seeking to prove 
the existence of a principle, declare it by their very 
actions non existent ; or their most evident perfidy, 
which in the combination of the above data , so clearly 
betrays their real design; quite the reverse of what 
you were given to suppose; or in fine their super¬ 
natural power, that of being able so dexterously to 
invert every principle of science, admitted by philoso¬ 
phers as certain ; and of making appear false the well 
known axiom, and proof of analogy : The identity of 
the effects proves the identity of the causje. 

(86) Who, but must be sensible of the greatness of 
the difficulty, and of the art with which it was over- 


309 


come ; as well as of the glory in having succeeded in 
an undertaking so very arduous, and from which such 
great advantages were to be derived ! 

(87) The Ruler of France had used the most seduc¬ 
tive flatteries to bring you over to his own system. 
Lord Bentinck availed himself of the very promises of 
Napoleon, to separate Murat’s interest from his ; and 
to make this last favour the cause of England, and of 
the Allied Powers ; and oppose at the same time that 
of Bonaparte. 

(88) Sire, if you deign to observe the true motive 
that separated Murat from Napoleon, you will easily 
perceive that it was nothing but his persuasion that 
Bonaparte intended restoring to the kingdom of 
Naples his aunt in law , your consort; that which 
consequently would have deprived him of a kingdom , 
which he liked so very much. 

Calculating on such a principle, you will also be 
sensible that, in order to alienate Murat from Napo¬ 
leon, it was necessary only to heighten the fears con¬ 
ceived by the former. Deign hence also to infer how 
much the very blunders committed by your collaterals, 
were calculated, when turned to good account, to 
secure the desirable object ; and on your observing 
how much they tended to augment Murat’s suspicions, 
you may be able to judge of the wisdom of him, who 
so managed them. Sire, the arrest ol the conspira¬ 
tors ; their conviction and condemnation ; the depar¬ 
ture of your late consort from the island ; the changes 
observed to take place in your government; were the 


310 


wisely imagined expedients, to make Murat believe 
that the above mentioned promise of Napoleon was 
real; and that he would infallibly lose his dominions, 
if he had not recourse to other means of preserving 
them. It was this consideration, and these circum¬ 
stances, which made him change his conduct and sys¬ 
tem ; and the incidents just mentioned, were the effec¬ 
tive means that induced him to withdraw himself from 
the policy of Bonaparte, and attach himself to that of 
his enemies. 

(89) If the means specified in the preceding num¬ 
ber, were the cause of what is in this one detailed ; 
and if those adopted by your Ministry were diametri¬ 
cally opposite to those above specified ; by the law of 
contraries one may easily discover, that if Lord Ben- 
tinck succeeded in ruining your real enemies; your 
Ministry wished only to favour them, and to ruin 
your cause together with that of your friends. How 
great then, Sire, must the merit and the right be of 
the above mentioned conspirators, to see themselves 
so honoured and exalted in your kingdom ; and how 
well deserved were the affronts offered in Naples, and 
by your government to Lord Wm. Bentinck, and to 
those who had merited most of the English ! 1 

(90) On calculating all the industrious perfidy, 
which has ever distinguished the lying Syrens, who 
then assisted your Majesty, and who still at present 
advise you; we are fully persuaded that the most 
glorious achievement of the British plenipotentiary was 
his having succeeded in so difficult an undertaking : 


311 


and difficult to such a degree, that his successor has 
not yet been able to realize it. 

(91) In being oblig ed to follow the system, and 
share in the fate of Bonaparte. 

(92) This truth is but the direct consequence of 
what has been observed on the above mentioned occa¬ 
sion. 

(93) Can this fact, Sire, be unknown to you ? 

(94) He appeared to wit, seated on the throne of 
your ancestors ; on which Murat’s separation from 
Napoleon replaced you, and at the same time accom¬ 
plished the ruin of them both. 

(95) Sire, Murat in discovering to Lord Wm. Ben- 
tinck the combinations formed between your collaterals 
and the lateRuler of France, only wished to engagehis 
Lordship to adopt the most violent measures against 
your government ; to ruin your Majesty for ever, and 
to induce Great Britain to break the engagements she 
had contracted with you,and the promises she had made 
you. But that prudent representative of England, 
instead of so tarnishing the glory of his country, 
only proved in the most evident manner how he could 
make those repent of their temerity, who supposed 
him capable of any action redounding to the dishonour 
of his nation. 

(96) All this has been already sufficiently proved : 
and I should like here that your sacred assessors 


312 


would condescend to answer in a satisfactory manner 
every article ; and that they would explain them¬ 
selves to us in a language fit to be understood by 
poor mortals. 

(97) Sire, Tinsel loses its lustre, the nearer it is 
compared with gold. 

(98) We anxiously expect that your Majesty’s 
counsellors will explain to us their ideas concerning 
the confidence with which this fact inspired them ; in 
seeking so to break your connection with Great Britain, 
and to make you place all your reliance in Bonaparte ; 
not on the magnanimity of the English government ; 
which, instead of imitating the conduct of Bonaparte 
towards the King of Spain, shewed in fact how much 
it abhorred his proceedings ; endeavouring to unde¬ 
ceive you, and to make you regain your lost throne, 
not to cast you down from that on which you were 
still seated; and from which the perfidy of your ac¬ 
tual counsellors strove to make you descend. 

(99) What a fine contrast does not this parallel ex¬ 
hibit ! 

(100) We should be willing to sacrifice to common 
sense, on learning that your actual counsellors had in 
fine resolved to tell us what real sense there was, if 
any such there were, in their above mentioned achieve¬ 
ments. What did they mean to prove to Europe by 
putting your rival to death ? That they wished to hold 
forth an example of terror to the revolutionary and 


313 


perfidious ? Or that they wished to insult those prin •? 
ces, by whom he was protected ? Their first sup¬ 
posed intention was contradicted by their own proper 
actions ; their second, by their words, and their most 
open protestations : in both one cannot help admiring 
the genuine character of those who are obliged to 
work in darkness, because they hate the light. 

(101) Behold the most striking proof of homoge¬ 
neous affinity ! A spectacle, so frequently afforded 
by your actual counsellors, does certainly honour to 
their sacred character ! 

(102) The wretches, who now advise you, and who 
assisted you in the past emergencies, not content with 
having endeavoured to make you be calumniated for 
the past, at present strive to substantiate every shadow. 

(103) Was it easy to have realized projects so very 
ill conceived, and directed by individuals so very un¬ 
skilful, as those shewed themselves to be, who then 
and at present administer your kingdom ! Was it then 
so sure that Great Britain, in the event of her losing 
one army, had not the means of replacing it with 
another ? 

(104) Was not this prince still detained a prisoner, 
ever after his newly contracted connection with 
Napoleon ? 

(105) We are truly desirous that your Ministers 
would only attempt to refute this truth : as we should 

X 


314 


then adduce in answering them, what would serve to 
unmask their perfidy for ever. 

(106) Will your assessors, Sire, still dare to impose 
upon you on this score. Let them do so, if they will; 
but let them do so in a manner to be understood. We 
wait to learn their sublime ideas, in order to submit to 
you our lowly and humble observations on the subject. 

(107) To deny a truth so well known, one must 
surely be more than a Pyrronist , or more obstinate 
than an Eristic. 

(108) Let the conduct of the chiefs be examined, 
and our foregoing proposition will thereby appear 
evidently demonstrated. 

(109) Such Sicily would become, had not the con¬ 
stitutional system, which Lord Bentinck and Great 
Britain had been anxious to grant it, incurred the 
dislike of those, who now counsel you. 

, (110) After examining the facts and observations 
here submitted, what ought we to conclude ? That 
the friends of your Majesty and the country were 
those, who, in 1811, sought to unite you with Bona¬ 
parte, and to assassinate the English army ? Or those 
who then strove to make you see through every subter¬ 
fuge ; to bind you in closer connection with Great 
Britain ; and to withdraw you thus from wrong and 
ruinous measures ? Sire, if it was a crime to have 
proved faithful to one’s country, and to have con¬ 
curred in undeceiving you, we own ourselves guilty ; 


315 


and our crime will be always cherished by us : the 
misfortunes it has caused us will be more prized by us, 
than the exalted honours, with which those have been 
loaded, who are considered as true patriots, and emi- 
niently faithful subjects at your court, for having 
endeavoured to make your Majesty appear in the face 
of Europe as Ptolomy of Oretus; and for having 
strove to destroy all the British influence, and to ex¬ 
pose the country to the usurpation of the late Ruler 
of France. 

(Ill) Such is the wish of your collaterals, and the 
attempts which they long to see crowned with success. 
Jt is for the advantage of these perfidious wretches 
that your sway over the kingdom should be merely 
a chimerical one ; and its existence always but equi¬ 
vocal. Thus only might they be able to render them¬ 
selves the idols of the state, and their interference on 
all occasions indispensable. 

(11*2) Consequences and principle. 

(113) Principle and consequences. 

(114) Connection between the consequence and the 
principle, and between the principle and the con¬ 
sequence. 

(115) Deign to look over the documents, by which, 
in 1808, your Majesty put the Calabrese Corpo franco 
under the immediate command of Eieutenant General 
Sir John Stuart; and that, by which your officers 
were empowered to serve in the Anglo-italian regi- 

x 2 


316 


ments in 1813. From these your royal diplomas the 
above mentioned fact appears. 

(116) The encomiums bestowed by the British 
generals on the Calabrese and Italian corps, are al¬ 
ready well known to the whole army, as they were 
transcribed into the daily orders. 

(117) This fact was the result of the dispositions 
taken, after your restoration to your kingdom. 

(118) It is not credible that your Ministers will 
think of denying this circumstance. The treatment I met 
with, was as follows : Without a hearing, though I al¬ 
ways requested one; and without learning why ; I was 
arrested and dragged about from prison to prison, ap¬ 
parently without the least necessity, unless perchance 
it was wished to make known to the Sicilians as well 
as to the Neapolitans the scorn and contempt with 
which those were to be treated, who had deserved well 
of the English army ; and how little respect was to 
be shewn to the British uniform, which 1 happened 
to have on me, at the time of my being arrested ; and 
which I was never allowed to put off in all the wind¬ 
ings and turnings I was thus forced to make in your 
two kingdoms in the most opprobrious and insulting 
manner. 

(119) Permit me, Sire, to lay before you authentic 
documents, bearing testimony to my conduct. They 
will make known to you, my real character, as well 
as the good and evil I have done to your Majesty and 


317 


my country : and I should be curious to learn with 
what subterfuges the children of darkness will strive 
to invalidate them ; as that would probably furnish 
new motives for our more fully detailing the above 
mentioned facts 

Certificate 

From the Local Authorities . 

It is hereby certified by us, the undersigned, Syndic 
and Decurions of the town of Melicucca, that Doctor 
Francis Romeo, our countryman, and one of the first 
gentleman in the country, has always shewn a praise¬ 
worthy conduct, being an enemy to public disorder 
and the promoters of such, and ever animated with 
zeal for the good of his country. 

In the month of October 1806, our people fired upon 
the French troops, but these having put their opponents 
to the rout, were on the point of burning and laying 
waste the country. Romeo, at the risk of his life, went 
to meet them at Palme, their head quarters, and by his 
conciliating manners prevailed on General Abbe, 
their commander, to spare these , his fellow citizens , 
the threatened horrors , which had already begun to 
be put into execution on some houses. 

In 1809, the said Francis Romeo was made pri¬ 
soner by the French government, as the upholder of 
the Anglo-Bourbon party in the Calabrias, which 
imprisonment cost him enormous expences, and much 
trouble and danger. 

In June 1811, he was again arrested by General 
Pacthod for the same cause ; but having, with an 

x 3 


i 


318 


opiate laid his guards asleep, he succeeded in escaping 
over into Sicily, to join his lawful Sovereign. 

All these incidents, and services rendered to the 
state and his country, have put him to the greatest 
sacrifices, and obliged him to dilapidate a rich patri¬ 
mony, which he enjoyed. 

All which being true, we have made this present 
declaration, undersigned by us, and confirmed by the 
town seal. 

Given in Mclicocca , the 9 tli of August, 1815. 

Charles Buccisano, Sindic. 

John Gkillo, Decurion. 

Raffael Passarelli, Decurion. 

Laurence Gambacorta, Idem. 

Dominick Arena, Idem. 

Anthony Filardi, Idem. 

Carmine Caloggero, Idem. 

Ferdinand Buccisano, Idem. 

Emanuel Spina, Idem. 

John Anthony Genua, Idem. 

(L. S.) Here is the Universal Town Seal of Meli- 
eocca. 

Acknowledged the authenticity of the signatures by 
the subintendant of the district of regium. 

(Signed) Musolino. 

(L. S.) Here is the seal of the subintendency regis¬ 
tered in Palme, the 18th of September, 1815, Nov. 1st 
vol. 13th, fol. 57th, sixth division. Received for fees 
*22d grani for the General Receiver. 

(Signed) 


G. Falvetti. 


319 


Recognised by the Royal Public Notary. 

(Signed) Michiel Angiolo Suriano. 

(L. is.) Here is the seal of the royal public notary. 

i 

Information, 

Taken by order of D\ Q\ M r . General Coffin . 

Francis Carbone, Colonel of His Majesty’s forces, 
Commander in Chief of the forces, and subintendant 
of the Provincial Militia ofCosenza. 

According to the dispositions made by Colonel Cof¬ 
fin, Deputy Quarter Master General of the British 
army, it is certified by me, the undersigned, or en¬ 
trusted with its secret commission, that Doctor Fran¬ 
cis Romeo, at present Captain in the British service, 
son of Doctor William, and nephew of Doctor Felix, 
of Melicucca, is a gentleman of one of the most dis¬ 
tinguished families for rank and fortune in Calabria. 
That in the month of October, 1808, he was commis¬ 
sioned by me as entrusted with the said secret commis¬ 
sion, and according to the arrangements of the Bri¬ 
tish Commanders , to augment the Anglo-Bourbon 
party in that province. 

That in virtue of this commission, the said Romeo 
brought over many to the British interests, and in¬ 
duced them to act against the French army. 

That in January 1809, a messenger of mine, named 
Francis Ceravolo, was apprehended by the enemy in 
the act of bringing over here letters and plans of 
Romeo, for the above mentioned purpose. 

That in consequence of this, Romeo, and many of 
his most distinguished associates, engaged by him in 


320 


this undertaking, were arrested, and conveyed pri¬ 
soners to Monteleone. 

By successive accounts transmitted through the 
medium of the secret commission, it was ascertained, 
that the said Francis Romeo had been condemned to 
death, together with his associates, by a military 
commission held at Monteleone , but that by means of 
money, and in consequence of the report made by 
General Partlxonneaux , Commander in Chief in Ca¬ 
labria, the sentence of death was commuted into that 
of his serving as a private soldier out of the kingdom. 

That in this guise the said Romeo set out from his 
prison in Naples for the Roman states, where his 
talents having procured him patronage, he got to be 
appointed physician to the regiment, in which he 
had served as a private soldier. 

That while holding this appointment, in 1810, he 
returned with the French army back to Calabria, 
whence, in June 1811, he succeeded in effecting his 
escape over to Messina , in order to avoid a new pro¬ 
secution, which, at the period of Murat being in Cala¬ 
bria , fresh services rendered to the English army, had 
excited against him ; on which account he was com¬ 
pelled to abandon his country and his property. 

That finally, in December 1811, he, the said Fran¬ 
cis Romeo, assisted by the Q r . M r . General Donkin, 
and in conjunction with said secret commission, ren¬ 
dered new and most important services to the British 
army in Messina. 

The whole of which being unquestionably true, I 




321 


have formed thereon this present document, signing it 
with my own hand, and sealing it with the accustomed 
seal. 

(Signed) Colonel Francis Carbone. 

Messina, 30th October, 1812. 

(L. S.) Here is the seal of Colonel Carbone. 

Lieutenant General Sir James Campbell's certificate 
as to the authen ticity of the above . 

Queen Ann Street, 4th August, 1817. 
I do hereby certify, that I have had repeated occa¬ 
sion, to peruse both the writing of Colonel Carbone, 
and his clerk, who has drawn out the accompanying 
statement as above, and have no hesitation in saying, 
the signature, as well as the document are authentic. 
(Signed) James Campbell, 

Lt. Gen. 

Lieutenant General Sir Frederic Maitland's certi¬ 
ficate , as to the authenticity of Colonel Carbone's 
documents. 

Sloane Street, 22d March, 1819. 

1 have examined this certificate, and particularly the 
signature of Colonel F co . Carbone, with whom I 
was well acquainted, and whose writing and signature 
I was in the daily habit of seeing when I commanded 
His Majesty’s troops at Messina ; and I have no 
hesitation in saying that the signature is, in my judg¬ 
ment, in the hand writing of the same Colonel Fran¬ 
cis Carbone. 

(Signed) Frederic Maitland, 

Lt. Gen. 


322 


Major General Sir Henry Bambury's certificate as 

to Colonel Francis Carbone's official commission. 

I certify, that Colonel Francis Carbone was em¬ 
ployed in the year 1808, by order of Lieutenant 
General Sir John Stuart, (then commanding His 
Britannic Majesty’s army in Sicily,) to procure secret 
information respecting the enemy, and to engage 
officers and men for the formation of the Calabrese 
free corps, which were afterwards taken into the pay 
and employed in the service of the British government. 

(Signed) Henry Edward Bumbury, 

Major Gen. 

Certificate given by order of his excellence Lord TV. 

Bentinck. 

This is to certify that Captain Francis Romeo, 
native of Calabria, in the service of His Britannic 
Majesty, has always conducted himself with zeal for 
the good of the British army, and has rendered it 
useful and important service. 

Palermo, 12th June, 1814. 

By order of his excellency Lord W. Bentinck, 

(Signed) L. A. Accourt, 

Adj. Gen. 

These facts now publicly known, and which your 
Majesty can best ascertain from the registers of the 
prison of Santa Maria Apparente, where in the year 
1809,1 was confined ; and from the roll book of the 
second regiment of Neapolitan light infantry, into 
which, as a condemned and a private soldier, I was 
entered, may shew you, Sire, the part I had taken in 



323 


public affairs. The reward 1 have received for all 
this, has only been the most horrid confinement, the 
most opprobious exposure throughout your two king¬ 
doms ; exile from my country, the privation of my pro¬ 
perty, of all my hopes, of my every right: transported 
to barbarism, indigence and the plague 1 So great has 
my crime appeared in the eyes of your assessors, for 
having espoused your cause, and that of my country. 
Effects so analogous to their cause might have cer¬ 
tainly been looked for, had one been able to have fore¬ 
seen that the very same felons, who had attempted to 
ruin the whole country, to tarnish your Majesty’s 
honour and compromise your very existence, whom 
you yourself had stiled perfidious villains and sacri¬ 
legious calumniators , should ever more make their 
appearance in your dominions, and pass there for the 
brightest luminaries of the state : or had there been 
any grounds to suppose, that after having done all, 
made such sacrifices, and exposed ourselves to the 
greatest dangers, in order to lessen the despotic in¬ 
fluence of the late French Ruler, that, after having 
finally succeeded, we should find ourselves at last, for 
all our recompence, subjected to the despotism of his 
vilest agents ; and compelled to adore in them the 
will of their prototype, and to worship in the most 
stupid of the children of anarchy the real malefic 
Deities of your empire. 

Sire, after the realization of such extraordinary cir¬ 
cumstances, and admitting so strange a cause, it was 
easy to foresee the above mentioned consequence. 
Your subjects observed it. The British Generals, un¬ 
der whose orders I have had the honour of serving, 


324 


had declared it. The English Ministry have ascer¬ 
tained it. The law of contraries confirm it. Nor 
does any thing further remain for me to do, but to sub¬ 
mit to you here the documents that justify the idea 
of it. They also may contribute to undeceive you. 

In the Prison of Santa Maria apparente , June 2,1815. 

To His Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Naples. 

Sir, 

Honours, illustrious situations, and protection, these 
are what Naples now offers, to all who in Sicily be¬ 
trayed the British army. 

Imprisonment, opprobrium, and banishment, these 
are what Naples bestows on all, who have faithfully 
served the English there. This is all that those attached 
to the English have to expect on their reaching this place. 
From the enclosed documents you will learn, Sire, 
what my services have been ? What is now their con¬ 
sequence ? By order of the Prince di Canosa , Minis¬ 
ter of the Police, I have been arrested ; and by His 
Majesty’s order I am now banished the kingdom. 
I have asked all the authorities the reason of such a 
proceeding. Silence was all the answer I have re¬ 
ceived. I have begged again and again, but always 
in vain, to be brought to a trial, or at least to be heard 
in my own defence. I have only been given to under¬ 
stand that my case was exactly the same as that of 
every one who had deserved well of England and 
Lord Bentinck. I therefore think it my duty to in¬ 
form you, Sir, of this fact ; and to implore the pro- 


325 


tection of Great Britain, that through her I may ob¬ 
tain that justice and those rights, of which I am 
thus deprived for the services which I have rendered 
to her army. 

I have the honour to be, Sir, 

Your most obedient humble servant, 
Captain Francis Romeo. 

To Mr. Walker, 

His Britannic Majesty’s Consul, 
at N aples. 

Answer to the above Letter. 

Naples, June 4,1815. 

Sir, 

I have received your letter enclosing a copy of your do¬ 
cuments, from which the actuality of your service does 
not appear. If you have none of fresher date, which 
can demonstate your present title to protection, as you 
are a subject of His Sicilian Majesty, the consulship 
cannot interfere in the subject of your application. 

I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient, &c. 

To Capt. Francis Romeo. Richard Walker. 


Extract of the information taken by the Consul¬ 
ship of Alexandria , concerning the arrestation and 
banishment of Captain Francis Romeo. 

Witnesses, 

Charles Bilotti, professor of mathematics, Cala¬ 
brese ; John Vassallo Neapolitan, Navy-accountant 
depose, 

That Captain Romeo, for four months was de- 


326 


tained prisoner in Naples, and treated in the most 
cruel manner, without being permitted either to write 
or to see any friend , during all which time he was 
neither brought to any trial, examined, or interro¬ 
gated. That suddenly he was transported on board a 
Swedish vessel, called the Aurora , and conveyed 
thence to Egypt. That they never knew him to have 
been guilty, but only understood by public report he 
was persecuted by the Neapolitan government solely 
for his being attached to the British service and in¬ 
terests ; particularly for his having contributed to the 
political events, which took place at Messina, and in 
Sicily, when the late Queen of Naples was banished, 
and King Ferdinand removed from the government. 

(Sworn) Charles Bilotti, 

John Vassallo. 

(Witnesses to the above) Charles Scand, 

P. Xaverius Stabili. 

(Signed) Joseph Frangi, Secretary 

of the counsulship. 

We, Peter Lee, His Britannic Majesty’s consul at 
Alexandria in Egypt, do certify that the above signed 
Joseph Frangi is secretary of this British consulship. 
In proof of which 

(Signed) Peter Lee, consul. 

(L. S.) Here is the seal of the consulship. 

Lieutenant General Sir James CamphelVs certificate. 

I do hereby certify, that Captain Francis Romeo 
was employed in the secret and confidential depart¬ 
ment of the British army in Sicily, in the years 1811-12, 


327 


when he rendered essential service to our inter¬ 
ests in that island, insomuch as thereby to have ac¬ 
quired the particular and marked indignation of the 
present Neapolitan government, by which the said 
Francis Romeo, and every other individual , who, at 
that period adhered to the British army , or to the 
British Mission in Sicily, have since then been per¬ 
secuted with unrelenting rigour; and I am fully 
persuaded he cannot with any degree of safety to him¬ 
self hazard a return to his native country, without 
endangering his personal liberty at the least. 

(Signed) James Campbell, Lt. Gen. 

formerly Adj. Gen. to theMedi. army. 

32, Queen Ann Street, 

27tli June, 1817. 

Certificate of Lieutenant General Maitland , as to 
Captain Borneo's services and their consequences. 

Francis Romeo, a Neapolitan gentleman, has ap¬ 
plied to me to certify to His Majesty’s Ministers, such 
knowledge as I have of his conduct and services in 
support of the British cause in Sicily during the years 
1811-1812, at which time I was in command of His 
Majesty’s troops at Messina, and I do not think it 
would be just in me to refuse or reject his applica¬ 
tion. 

About the middle, or towards the end of the year 
1811, when from the absence of the commander of the 
forces, Lieutenant General Lord Wm. Bentinck, I 
held the chief command, it was made known to me 


328 


from several sources, that there existed an extensive 
secret intercourse and correspondence between a per¬ 
son of very high power in Sicily and Bonaparte , 
one object of which was to drive the English army 
out of that island. 

.....(From 

motives of delicacy the whole of this detail is not 
published ; which after declaring* that Captain Ro¬ 
meo was charged with ascertaining if the above cor¬ 
respondence was real, or imaginary, concludes by 
affirming that it was chiefly owing to the means he 
employed, that the attempt was proved to evidence, 
and that some of a considerable rank and employment 
in Messina, were arrested, tried, and convicted. The 
certificate then continues as follows :) which act I 
judged to be absolutely necessary, to counteract the 
mischief which our open enemies , or our treacherous 
friends were together plotting against us ; and the 
very chief of the Police at Messina was tried , con¬ 
victed. y and hanged for Treason ; his own letters t o 
the French General Manhes (one of Bonaparte’s 
generals, over whom Murat had no power) being 
seized in transitu , and produced in proof against him. 

1 HAVE NO DOUBT WHATEVER-NONE-THAT THOSE 

SERVICES TO THE BRITISH INTEREST DID PRODUCE THE 
ENMITY OF THE PRESENT NEAPOLITAN GOVERNMENT TO- 

wards Signor Francis Romeo, and all its conse¬ 
quences. 

(Signed) Frederic Maitland, 

Lt. Gen. 


To whom it may concern. 



329 


To General Layard, Vice Governor of Malta and 
its dependencies. 

Sir, 

You will see by the letter of the English Consul 
at Alexandria, in Egypt, what my case is ; as well as 
the right and need I have to rely on Great Britain for 
protection ; I therefore hope, Sir, you will not deny 
me the means of laying my complaints before your 
government ; in order that I may obtain that justice 
from her, of which the services I have rendered to her 
army in Sicily, have been the means of depriving me. 

I have the honour to be, Sir, &c. 

Capt. Francis Romeo. 

Lazaretto, 30th March, 1817. 

Remarks. 

Lieut. Gen. Layard, upon this request, granted 
Capt. Romeo a passage to London, on board the 
Euphrates frigate, in order to lay his case before the 
British Government. 

MEMORIAL I. 

To the Earl of Bathurst, Principal Secretary of State 
for War and Colonies. 

The Memorial of Dr. Francis Romeo, native of 
Calabria, and late Captain in His Britannic 
Majestifs Army, humbly shemeth, 

That the services he rendered to the British army in 
Calabria in the years 1808 and 1809, expose him to 
many difficulties and dangers, as also to sustain the 

greatest sacrifices and expences. 

That in 1811, during Lord Win. Bentinck’s resi- 

Y 




330 


dence in Sicily, as Minister Plenipotentiary, and Ge¬ 
neral in Chief, Memorialist was the instrument of 
frustrating the project for destroying the English army, 
assassinating the English residents at Messina, and 
introducing the French troops in that island ; and by 
his exertions he incurred the implacable hatred of the 
Sicilian Court, with whom it originated, as the Conspi¬ 
rators themselves have declared; but in return he re¬ 
ceived the assurances of the British Generals Maitland, 
Campbell, and Donkin, that he would be always under 
the protection of Great Britain. 

That in 1815, after the kingdom of Naples returned 
under its ancient dynasty, Memorialist went back to 
his native country, in order to procure the restitution 
of his confiscated property ; when he was arrested, car¬ 
ried to Naples,and thrown into adungeon without being 
permitted to see any person. After a close confinement 
of five months, he was put on board a Swedish vessel, 
without undergoing any interrogation, and landed at 
Alexandria in Egypt,without any means of subsistence, 
until relieved by the British Consul Mr. Lee, who not 
only supplied him with money, but also procured him 
a passage to Malta, and gave a letter to General 
Layard, who sent him to England, that he might 
represent his case there to Government. 

Memorialist, in appealing to the well known and 
rigid observance, by the British Government, of the 
faith pledged in its name, by their officers Gen. Mait¬ 
land, Campbell, and Donkin, and that those services 
can be fully ascertained, by reference to his Excellency 
Lord Wm. Bentinck, feels perfectly convinced/ his 



331 


case will receive from his Lordship, the consideration 
which it merits : Situated as he is at present, he finds 
it impossible to get possession of his rights and pro¬ 
perty, or return to his native country, and in England 
he has not any means of support, having incurred 
debts, coming from Egypt to London. 

All which is most humbly and respectfully submitted. 

(Signed) Francis Romeo, Captain. 

12th June, 1817. 

206, Tottenham Court Road. 

Downing Street, 25th June, 1817. 

Sir, 

I am directed by Earl Bathurst, to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, and to ac- 
quaint you, that his Lordship has submitted your Me¬ 
morial to the consideration of Lord Viscount Castle- 
rea<rh, in order that his Lordship may adopt such mea¬ 
sures, as he may consider practicable for inducing the 
Neapolitan Government, to afford you the relief which 

he considers your case to merit. 

I am Sir, 

Your most obedient humble servant, 

/c . i-y Henry Goulburn. 

(Signed) 

Capt. Romeo, 

206, Tottenham Court Road. 

The above declaration certainly relieved my mind of 
a great load of trouble. It shewed at the same time 
the justice of my cause, and the interest it had excited 
in the British Ministry. Your assessors, however, 
determined to mar my every right, prevented my 

Y 2 


332 


receiving any other relief, than that of consoling my¬ 
self in the misfortune, which they had subjected me to, 
leaving me exposed to the infallible consequences of 
fruitless expectations. I neither obtained relief nor 
any audience on the subject. And I therefore resolv¬ 
ed to address myself again to the said Minister of the 
Colonial Department, and to submit to him what 
follows : 

Second Memorial of Capt. Romeo, May, 8th, 1818, 
Submitted to the Right Hon . Lord Bathurst princi- 
palSecretary of State for the War and Colonial De¬ 
partment. 

My Lord, 

I have been imprisoned, banished, and ruined by the 
present Ministry of Naples. I have been separated 
from my family and friends, expelled my country, and 
stripped of my property, and what affects me still 
more, my honour has been compromised. If I am 
guilty, my guilt ought to be made known, or investi¬ 
gated in some tribunal. But if I have been punished, 
without giving me to know either the cause of my 
punishment, or the proofs of the guilt imputed to me, 
whoever have acted so in my regard, have declared by 
so doing that the publication of my cause would re¬ 
dound to their own disgrace and misfortune; and that 
the guilt of him, whom they so punished, was not real, 
but imaginary. This would prove to be the case, were 
the Neapolitan Ministry forced to declare the true 
cause of my imprisonment and exile. They would 
then assuredly declare that I was punished for having 


333 


opposed the projects formed by my persecutors, that 
of destroying’ the British Army in Sicily, and of mas¬ 
sacring them, together with their leaders ; that which 
the same Ministry have otherwise proved by their 
operations, as w T ell as by their so persecuting, injuring, 
and punishing in the same manner as they have done 

myself) all the others, who have concurred in servin°* 

© 

the said army; and by their recalling from their 
prisons, dungeons, and exile, those who had wished 
to destroy it, in order to confide to them the highest 
posts in the kingdom, where they themselves now act 
as the dictators. 

My Lord, if the cause of the persecutions which I 
have hitherto endured, is the consequence of the ser¬ 
vices I have rendered to the English, can the British 
Ministry overlook the misfortune to which I at pre¬ 
sent find myself subjected, for having obeyed it, and 
acted the part of an honourable man, without indem¬ 
nifying me, or revindicating my rights for me. 

Last year, my Lord, you had the goodness to for¬ 
ward my memorial to Lord Castlereagh, in order that 
he might procure me an answer and relief from the 
government of Naples, as appears from the copy here¬ 
with inclosed of the letter. From the silence of the 
said Miuister on the subject, one may easily perceive 
that all the steps which his Lordship may have taken 
on the subject, have been evaded or marred by the 
Sicilian Ministry. Should this be the case, I trust, 
my Lord, that you will be convinced with me, that the 

y 3 


334 




said Ministry will never do justice to my claims, 
unless the British Government should deign to adopt 
measures more energetical, and less susceptible of be¬ 
ing eluded ; such as to persuade his Sicilian Majesty 
to oblige his Ministry either to prove that they have 
punished me hy the decision of a tribunal , and for 
some specific fault of mine ; or to indemnify me for 
all my losses and expenses , and to compensate me 
for the affronts , sufferings and dangers , to which I 
have been exposed by the unjust persecution , to 
which they have subjected me. 

I beseech you, my Lord, to cause your decision in 
my regard, to be realized; to examine into the fact, 
and to recommend my memorial to Lord Castlereagh 
for the said purpose. 

I have the honour to be, my Lord, 

Your most obedient, &c. 

Capt. Francis Romeo. 

Answer. 

Downing Street, 19th May, 1818. 

Sir, 

I am directed by Earl Bathurst, to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of yesterday’s date,and to acquaint 
you, that he has referred it to Lord Castlereagh’s con¬ 
sideration. 

I am Sir, 

Your most humble servant, 

(feigned) Henry Goulburn. 

To Captain Romeo. 


335 


Remarks. 

From the interest,which the British Ministry took in 
my behalf; from the attestations of the British Generals 
already submitted to you; from the very conduct itself 
of your counsellors towards me, and from theirpreced- 
ing behaviour; you may perceive, Sire, what the real 
cause has been of the misfortune and ignominious 
treatment, to which I have hitherto been subjected. 
It is true, the steps taken by the Minister of the 
Colonial Department in my behalf, have not had any 
favourable result. Your Ministers have been able to 
elude all his kind endeavours, as well as the wise pro¬ 
visions of every law, especially of the constitutional 
system guaranteed by Great Britain. I have neither 
witnessed any proofs adduced of my alledged guilt, 
nor any relief or indemnification granted me for the 
ills, with which I have been so unjustly loaded. Your 
Ministers can well make the laws subservient to their 
own views, hut not their views to the laws; nor are 
these worthies at a loss to find, amid the gloom that 
envelops them, the needful expedients, when they wish 
to shew themselves all powerful against those, who 
have no other defence to oppose to their dark 
manoeuvres, but truth and honour. 

We shall soon perhaps have an occasion, Sire, to 
shew how it could have happened, as it has in fact, 
that your Ministry has succeeded in evading the in¬ 
vestigation required, and in not complying with the 
just request, which Lord Bathurst condescended to 


336 


make in my behalf. It suffices at present to manifest 
the motive to you, which induces your actual coun¬ 
sellors to do all they can to destroy my rights. Their 
motive is clearly manifested by the following letter of 
Lieut. Gen. Campbell, even should the law of con¬ 
traries not suffice to make it evident. 

Copy of Lieut. Gen. Campbell's letter to Captain 
Romeo. 

32, Queen Ann Street, 27th June, 1817. 

As you request, I have sent you a certificate relative 
to your services rendered to the British Army in Sicily, 
and shall be gratified to know it is in any manner use¬ 
ful to you, as I am well aware how hopeless and use¬ 
less it is to expect you should meet with any counte¬ 
nance from the present Neapolitan Government, solely 
on account of the zeal you displayed in forwarding the 
interests of Great Britain, on a peculiar and important 
occasion. 

ft 

I am Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 
(Signed) J. Campbell. 

Capt. Francis Romeo, 206, Tottenham Court Road. 

(120) Were we to enter into details on this affair, 
and to discuss all the principles of public economy 
regarding it, we should fear having the old proverb 
applied to us : Sed jam longior veste evasit lascinia . 
We therefore defer doing so till those illustrious 
etherial publico-economists, in a language adapted 
to the understanding of poor, weak, and stupid 


337 


mortals, deign to unfold to us their sublime ideas ; and 
only remark here in the by going, that the proposal 
of their plan in the Parliament of Palermo, quite 
shocked the principal barons of that kingdom ; and 
occasioned that change in the government, which ex¬ 
posed those wiseacres themselves to no common 
mortifications. 

(121) On your leaving Sicily, you yourself extolled 
exceedingly the fidelity and attachment of its in¬ 
habitants to your throne ; and you promised to look 
upon them always with the eyes of a father. Soon 
after this, that Island was deprived of the privileges, 
which it had enjoyed for many centuries ; and of the 
constitution, which you yourself had granted to it. 
How can such words and deeds be reconciled ? Deign, 
Sire, to attend to this. When you made this assur- 
ance, those, who now counsel you, had not as yet 
quitted their prisons, nor returned from their banish¬ 
ment. As soon as they made their appearance again, 
the fate of your subjects, the establishment made by 
your Majesty, the measures combined with your 
friends, were all reversed and destroyed, 

(122) No, Sire, you could not punish those, who 
constitute your firmest support, and who can, in their 
indignation, occasion your ruin. Such an act could 
become none, but your present assessors. It could 
please but them, in order thus to render themselves 
superior to your Majesty ; and to induce your people 
to submit for the future to the views of your Ministry, 


338 


not to those of their Sovereign ; and perhaps still more 
in order to punish those, who had dared to oppose the 
perfidy of the wretches who then and still now advise 
you; to punish them, who had withdrawn you thus 
from the edge of the most fatal precipice, on which 
. you were placed. 

(123) This is the supreme wish of your assessors. 
Neither the principles of an Aristides, nor the views 
of the Areopagus, would have any influence on your 
actual Ministry. 

(124) An existing fact, demonstrated by a thousand 
others. 

(125) And to invest with it another of your family. 
You cannot be ignorant of this expedient, imagined 
in order to destroy at once all the hopes of your 
familiars; and you will recollect that it was the enlight¬ 
ened conduct of your heir apparent, that hindered the 
project from being realized. 

(126) A circumstance so manifest and notorious 
shews clearly what sort of conduct, and what class of 
persons, can ever be accounted meritorious by your 
assessors. 

(127) Will your actual counsellors deny to your 
Majesty this fact also ? They manifested their ab- 
hoirence of them every where and on all occasions in 
1799, but they could not accomplish their destruction. 
The existence of wise men in your kingdom is visible 


339 


by their works, their writings, and the very dread of 
them, which their rivals betray. 

(128) Will your Ministers have the impudence still 
to impose upon you in a principle so very evident ? 
Let them do so, but let them deign to shew us their 
reasons, if they wish to hear them answered. 

(129) The premises already demonstrated, prove 
the consequences thence deduced. 

(130) How obvious, how many are the observations, 
which could be made in your dominions on this head ! 
But the bigots, who are now seated by your side, are 
too anxious to keep them out of sight. 

Prospectus of apian of public instruction adapted 
equally to the most extensive empire and the smallest 
states; capable of being realized with little or no ex¬ 
pence to the Government ; and tending much to bet¬ 
ter the resources of the public. 

General Prospectus. 

Languages. 

History. 

Sciences. 

Arts. 

j Divers Classes of Instruction. 

Moral. 

Mechanical. 

Literary. 


340 


Orders and Graduations of Studies. 

Initial. 

Progressive. 

OfFacuIty. 

Of Trades. 

Of Application. 

Of Demonstration. 

The means requisite to every Public Institution. 
Indispensable. 

Conducive. 

Facilitating. 

Instructive Ecclectics. 

Instructions necessary, useful, agreeable. Choice of 
the most conducive to the different wants of any 

country.-Of those which are best combined with 

the nature of the respective instruction ; with the 
genius and capacity of the learner. 

Particular Prospectus. 

Instructive Objects.-How to facilitate their influence. 
Classes of Instruction —How to divide their 
attributes and duties. 

Orders and Gradations of Studies. —How to re¬ 
gulate their combinations. 

Respective Establishments. —How to better their 
condition and secure their object. 

Corresponding Means. —How to obtain, to employ, 
to perpetuate and extend them. 

Instructive Ecclectics. —How to form them. 



341 


Objects. 

Languages. —What helps most to the knowledge 
of them, and exercises. 

History. —What is necessary in order to study it 
with profit. 

Sciences .—How they are best perfected and learned. 

Arts. —How to become experienced in them, and 
practically to succeed in them. 

Corresponding Classes. 

Moral Instruction . 

How much it ought to he promoted among the 
people. How to do so, what means to employ, in 
order to succeed. What principles are necessary. What 
aptitude he should have, who is desirous of learning 
it, and what method he should use, in order to suc¬ 
ceed in his undertaking. 

Mechanical Instruction. 

Of production and amelioration. What is necessary 
for the former ; what is wanted for the latter. What 
method to use, in order to learn it. By what system 
to benefit it; by what means to support it. By what 
expedients to extend and perfect it. 


Literary Instruction. 

What branches it explains. What it constantly re¬ 
quires of these.—What dispositions facilitate its ac¬ 
quirement in the learner. 


342 


Order . 

The qualities which initial instruction should have. 
How to render it general and uniform. How to as¬ 
sist every citizen in acquiring it. 

# 

Progressive Instruction. 

Its character—Its influence on society. How to im¬ 
prove the one and extend the other. 

Universal Instruction. 

Of faculty. Its nature. Its object. Its wants. Plan for 
providing and improving it. 

Of Trades. Their properties. Object. Consequences. 
System for procuring the first, for rendering useful the 
second, for profiting by the last. 

Applicative Instruction . 

Its use. The advantages which it brings. Precau¬ 
tions and necessary attention to secure it. 

Demonstrative Instruction . 

Causes that promote it. Obstacles that retard it. 
Expedients for favouring the former, and surmounting 
the latter. 


Means to support Instruction . 


Indispensible. —Local, books, masters, scholars. 
Conducive. —Parents, government. 

Facilitating. — Method, machines, instruments, 
apparatus, figures, libraries, museums, correction, 
encouragement. 


343 


Indispentible. 

Local .—What is requisite for each of the above 
establishments. How to find them, to arrange them 
properly, and to provide them. 

Boohs .—What chiefly recommends them. By what 
system to produce and to find good books. How to 
generalize the useful ones, and to suppress the use¬ 
less and dangerous ones. 

Masters. Their necessary qualities. How to 
choose them. How to secure them : how to procure 
them : how to engage them to render themselves use¬ 
ful and illustrious. 

Disciples. Conditions essential for them. Howto 
regulate them properly, and to render them useful. 

Conducive. 

Parents. When they should be interested, and how 
to induce them to make their children be well in¬ 
structed. 

Government. How to assist it, and engage it to 
secure and meliorate the instruction of its subjects. 

Facilitating in general. 

Libraries. How to form, enrich and generalize 
them. 

Method. What that is which best suits schools, 
colleges, universities, gymnasiums of mechanics, di¬ 
rectories of demonstration. 

Machines ; instruments, figures. What helps these 
afford. What is to be done to procure them, to use 
them, to improve them. 


344 


Correction and Encouragement: System for the 
application of both. The manner of using’ the first; 

f 

directions and expedients for effecting the last. 

Facilitating in particular. 

Relative to each branch of instruction ; to the up¬ 
holding of talent and genius. To the weakness of the 
organs, and animal powers. What helps most to the 
knowledge of languages. What is necessary in order 
to study history to advantage. How the sciences are 
to be perfected and most easily learned. What data 
- the arts require in order to become the most useful 
and the least difficult. 

What is most favourable to the instructive establish¬ 
ments; or what are the facilitating means for the 
Schools, and how to dispose them. 

What those for Colleges, and how to use them. 
What expedients conduce most to the benefit of 
Universities. 

What helps most gymnasiums of mechanics ? 

What means are most useful for the directories of 
demonstration. 


Ecclectic System. 

How to form it. How to introduce it into any 
country the instruction it wants. Method of ascertain¬ 
ing if it exists. Plan for augmenting the necessary 
instruction, for diffusing the useful, for moderating 
the amusive. System for adapting the studies to the 
nature of the instruction sought; to the state ; to the 
learner’s condition and capacity. 


345 


Demonstrations and Application of the Respective 

Principles. 

For the Moral Branch. Churches, cloisters, the 
pulpit, houses of correction, prize competitions, cha¬ 
ritable establishments, foundling hospitals, mad houses. 

For Mechanics: productive Statutes: and for 
these, fields for tillage, rural works, pasturage and 
metalurgical operations, hunting, fishing. 

Ameliorating Statutes, or those for the transforma¬ 
tion of the raw material found in the three kingdoms 
of nature. Fabrics, Laboratories, manufactories, 
laws on the exchange of the superfluous for the need¬ 
ful, namely Commerce; and for this last, houses of 
exchange, fairs, banks, markets, post offices, 
enterprizes, business, industry, and commercial 
mechanism. 

For the Literary Branch. —Of public health—Hos¬ 
pitals, botanical gardens, chemical laboratories, 
places for physical experiments, anatomical cabinets, 
clinical halls, lying-in hospitals, hygienic observatories, 
Lazarettos, places for curing contagious disorders, 
the scab, itch, small-pox, syphillis, epidemics. Ma¬ 
trimonial establishments, store houses, and places for 
the physical education of the citizen. 

Of Police. External—Civil—Rural—Courts and 
diplomatical cabinets. How to prevent public and pri¬ 
vate injuries. Tribunals, prisons, punishments, visits, 
assemblies, festive spectacles. Investigation of the 
culture, labours j department and distribution of fields., 

Z 


346 


Of the Military department , Parade grounds, for¬ 
tifications, founderies, promotion, degradation, stra¬ 
tagems. 

r. 

(132) Sire, to deny this truth, it were necessary first 
to deny the real existence of your people, and the 
faculty of seeing, hearing and touching, which na¬ 
ture has granted to every man. They have heard, seen 
and suffered its saddest effects. 

(133) In London it is quite otherwise : His Bri¬ 
tannic Majesty is not pleased to see any present them¬ 
selves at court clothed in foreign manufactures. 

(134) The practice of this principle, that of exalt¬ 
ing the good and depressing the wrong dispositions of 
the people ; that of spurring on the indolent, and en¬ 
couraging the industrious ; is the complete crowning 
of all the social virtues ; and that which constitutes 
the glory of those nations, who are influenced by it. 
The Greeks, the Romans, the Samnites, your own 
Brutians, are indebted to it for all their splendour. 
To the neglect of such principle, and the opposition 
put to it, is owing the decay and degradation of the 
people ; the weakness of princes, the actual misfor¬ 
tunes of your kingdom ; and the pitiful figure you 
yourself have been obliged to make on the past emer¬ 
gencies. It is to your actual counsellors that your 
Majesty and your people owe so inestimable a benefit. 

(135) It seems as if Bonaparte had adopted for this 
purpose the idea of Justinian ; who observing that 


347 


Christianity was the more extended, the more it was 
oppressed, and the more it sought to conceal itself; 
imagined that he would overturn it by allowing it to be 
openly professed, aud its principles to be publicly in¬ 
culcated. 

(136 page 286) The observations here submitted to 
you, may suffice, Sire, to make you distinguish the 
reasons for depriving Sicily of its newly acquired as 
well as ancient privileges. It was stripped of them 
assuredly either as being unworthy to enjoy them, or 
because it was dangerous and antipolitical to grant 
them to it. Has it then shewn itself unworthy of 
them since you declared it a truly loyal and meritorious 
nation ? Has it deserved to lose them, because it 
never chose to submit to the late Ruler of France ; to 
the sacred Mecenases of those, who are now seated by 
your side ; because it twice received you a fugitive; 
defended you, when forsaken, supported you, when 
persecuted ? Could such crimes as these, Sire, re¬ 
main unpunished, unavenged by your assessors ? 
Doubtless it was dangerous to grant it such privileges, 
because you were the one who granted them ! What 
a fatal precedent were this, to let your people perceive 
that they are your Majesty’s measures, and not those 
of your favourites, that deserve being obeyed and 
fulfilled in the kingdom ! ! It is dangerous to respect 
the Sicilian Constitution, because, with some little 
difference, it is the very same as that, by which Great 
Britain for many ages has been, and still is regulated ; 
because it was owing to it that this indigent and 
wretched power saw its national bank twice lail ; and 

z 2 


348 


that findingitself without any credit, means or resources, 
either political or moral, His Majesty George the 
Third had been repeatedly obliged to fly in the utmost 
precipitation from his kingdom, and his army to dis¬ 
appear like a flash of lightning. It is truly dangerous 
that your subjects should have the means of satisfying 
their real wants, and of securing their independence 
and prosperity. Both these had been promised them by 
the Allied Sovereigns ; but could it ever become the 
occult satellites of Bonaparte to allow these their pro¬ 
mises to be realized ? Was it ever expedient for the 
gloomy sons of an Alecto and a Tisiphone , that the temple 
oi Janus in Europe should remain so long shut up ; 
and that there should be no more incendiaries left to 
throw the apple of discord between princes and their 
subjects ? It being Great Britain that guaranteed the 
Sicilian Constitution, could it well suit the wretched 
assassins of the English army that such a system 
should remain in vigour in a kingdom, of which they had 
finally become the Rulers ? As it was Great Britain 
that promoted that system, how could it but be a dan¬ 
gerous one to the state, observing, as we have done, 
how much the influence and friendship of that power 
had proved fatal to your Majesty, and how ruinous 
to your people; and alter observing at the same time how 
unfortunate and wretched England had become, by 
having adopted it; and how weak its Sovereign had 
been rendered by it, and unable to support the duties 
and splendour of his throne ? Anti-political and 
strange indeed would it be to respect, after all this, 
such a system. Fliis would have been corresponding 
too much with the wishes and endeavours of * the actual 


349 


friends of their country ; with those of the European 
Sovereigns, who are studying to secure the happiness 
of their subjects. 

Though an absolute Monarch, the Emperor of 
Russia thinks only, according to the most liberal 
principles, of securing the felicity of his people, as well 
as the strength and stability of his throne. He has 
granted a constitution to the Poles, and new means of 
instruction and civilization to his subjects. Lewis the 
Eighteenth abides by the generous constitution and 
charter, which he himself granted to his people. He 
has thus attached them to his government; and, 
under the most difficult circumstances, assisted by the 
whole nation, and by the wisdom of its Representa¬ 
tives, he has thus succeeded in reconciling the oppo¬ 
site factions, in destroying of anarchy, and in dis¬ 
playing in his government that becoming aptness, and 
that vigorous character, which has acquired for him 
the esteem and good will of his subjects ; and the ad¬ 
miration and confidence of the other Sovereigns. The 
illustrious Prince of Orange, the King of Bavaria, and 
several other crowned heads, have also granted, Sire, 
liberal constitutions and systems of government to 
their people. Your illustrious Ministry, by a conduct 
in this respect diametrically opposite, most assuredly 
prove that the late George the Third, and the pre¬ 
sent George the Fourth of England ; that Alexander 
of Russia, Lewis the Eighteenth, and almost all the 
other Sovereigns now reigning in Europe, are but so 
many wretched bunglers, and entire strangers to 
politics; and the real benefic deities of the people, 


350 


the illustrious and wise by excellence, are only the 
actual counsellors in your kingdom, the occult agents 
and generous proselytes of Napoleon ! ! 

Sire, These, your wise assessors, have deemed it 
more suitable for their purpose to adopt, in preference 
to those of the above mentioned Allied Sovereigns, the 
principles of their faithful Colleagues, the Ex-ministers 
of Spain: and it appears also, that they wish very 
much to see renewed on the banks of the Oretes, the 
changes, which have taken place in that kingdom, 
without their being however accompanied with the 
same acknowledgment of error, made by its Monarch ; 
nor with the same dignity, moderation and loyalty, as 
those displayed by its natives. 

These wise worthies have declared in the midst of 
their obscurity that your people ought to be subjected 
to the very same sort of law : that the Sicilian con¬ 
stitution was abolished for that purpose, and the 
system adopted in Naples, made common to the in¬ 
habitants of both countries. 

The system adopted in Naples ? That, to wit, which 
Murat had introduced; which Napoleon had ap¬ 
proved of; with this it is intended to unite your sub¬ 
jects: while that unanimously called for by the public 
in Sicily ; granted under auspices the most favourable 
to your Majesty ; and guaranteed by your most trusty 
friends ; is judged unfit, and insufficient to obtain the 
desired effect; and it is thought absurd to extend it 
to the Neapolitans. It was not perhaps the wish to 


/ 


351 

unite, but motives of preference, that occasioned the 
change in question. Your assessors doubtless must 
have thought that the system of Bonaparte and Murat 
was better calculated to satisfy the wants of your 
people, than that of England, established by your 
Majesty. The fitness of the former to cause the pros¬ 
perity of the Neapolitans was still problematical: 
whereas that of the latter, chosen by yourself, and 
granted to the Sicilians, was proved by the fact, in the 
example of a nation, who for many ages had felt its 
benefic influence ; and which had thereby rendered 
itself great and illustrious. Notwithstanding all this, 
the former was chosen, and the latter rejected; and 
in this it appears that your assessors had nothing else 
in view, but to exalt and depress the qualities of the 
respective donors. It was thus, Sire, that these faithful 
and sincere friends of your Majesty, those who assist 
you now, have evidently proved the degree of esteem 
they had for yourself, for the Allied Sovereigns, and, 
above all, for Great Britain ; and also what concern 
they had for the country, and what aversion they 
entertained for your enemies. It Was and is thus, Sire, 
that your actual Ministry shewed the ardent zeal they 
felt to erase from the recollection of your subjects the 
idea of your rival; and to make them abhor his very 
name, together with his deeds and principles ; and to 
engage them always more and more in your views, 
and those of the actual Sovereigns of Europe! ! They, 
who have done so much, caused Murat to be shot, tQ 
make him be for ever forgotten by your subjects ; 
and not rather to suppress by his death the testimony 


Z5Z 


of their own infamy ; not to make you insult his pro¬ 
tectors ; not to enhance the glory of Napoleon ; and 
not to afford the children of such a competitor the 
fittest means of being able some day to avenge his 
death ! ! 



FINIS. 

I 


« 


paqe. 

21 

— 

live. 

3 

22 

~ _ - 

23 

59 

— 

12 

66 

— 

2 

8S 

T 

18 

104 

— 

14 

114 

— 

7 

117 

— 

6 

148 

• - 

14 

152 

— 

21 

184 

— 

20 

188 

— 

4 

203 

— 

18 

209 

1 

2 

232 


24 

259 

— 

7 

263 

--- 

20 


* 

ERRATA. 

(28) read the following numbers one in 
ad^fece. 
for to, read of. 

for presenting, read persecuting. 
for to incite anarchy, read to incite to 
anarchy. 

for faith he, read faith to he. 
for his, read her. 

for extensior or, read extension of. 
for author, read authors. 
for avengin, read avenging. 
for gainst, read against. 
for loving, read living. 
for ss, read as. 
for to look, read or to look. 
for furnish him good, read furnish him with 
good. 

for they, read there. 

for as to, read as not to. 

for compleon, read completion. 


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